Plastic & Cosmetic Surgery Blog – Harley Medical Group

Model Laura Summers, who starred on last night’s episode of Channel 4’s Beauty and the Beast: The Ugly Face of Prejudice as the ‘beauty’, attributed her self-confidence and personality to cosmetic surgery.

The 26-year-old, who has had more than seven procedures so far, including four boob jobs, two nose jobs and otoplasty, was severely bullied at school for the way she looked.

Since turning 18, the Nottingham-born model who now splits her time between London and Manchester, has changed the areas of her face and body that she was unhappy with and feels happy and confident as a result.

The programme brings together beauty obsessives and those with facial disfigurements to show viewers the very different reasons why people choose to undergo plastic surgery. The latest episode included footage of a day Summers spent with Michael Boateng, an Olympic hopeful who has facial scarring and a prosthetic ear from burns sustained when he was just eight months old. Both discussed details of their surgery experiences frankly and left understanding each other’s views on cosmetic surgery.

Three episodes in, and Channel 4’s Beauty and The Beast: The Ugly Face of Prejudice is receiving mixed reviews.

The Metro newspaper seemed decidedly bored with the whole premise of the show, summed up as “the one who’s vain at the beginning turns out to have some self-esteem issues”, adding “did anyone see that coming?” and describing it as “the same old story”.

Online lifestyle magazine Manchester Confidential wrote about it from the angle of Miss Manchester, Elicia Davies, who was the ‘beauty’ that appeared in last night’s show, and gave it a more positive review. They wrote: “If the purpose was to make us stop staring at an unusual face and look deeper into a picture perfect one, then it certainly achieved that.”

But it has been the featured consultant plastic surgeons that have shed the most light on the many, very varied reasons why people choose to alter their appearance. Their balanced approach has been the shining light in what might have otherwise been at best a dull series, and at worst a dark and self-indulgent one.

Harley Street consultant plastic surgeon Mr Azhar Aslam was filmed during an initial consultation with Davies, an appointment which all potential patients are required to attend, and his approach was a far cry from pushy salesman. In fact, Mr Aslam was more of a concerned parent, trying to get at the reasons why Davies felt she needed dermal fillers to plump up her cheeks.

The beauty queen admitted that she wanted to look perfect, an ideal which Mr Aslam assured her is subjective and therefore not a good enough reason to undergo cosmetic surgery. Davies looked distraught but when filmed two months later to see if appearing on the show had changed her life, she seemed to be extremely appreciative of his approach.

And in the first episode, cosmetic surgeon Mr Patrick Mallucci advised an overweight girl that fat removal surgery was not the answer, but instead exercise and healthy eating were.

Apart from ethical cosmetic surgeons, we wonder if the next three shows can reveal anything different from the first.

Last night, Channel 4 aired the first episode of its controversial reality television show Beauty and the Beast: Ugly Face of Prejudice, in which a plastic surgeon advised that liposuction should not be used as a weight loss tool.

Beauty obsessive Yasmin Disney attended a consultation with cosmetic surgeon Mr Patrick Mallucci to discuss breast reduction surgery and liposuction on her inner thighs and stomach. But far from encouraging Disney to undergo the procedures, Mr Mallucci advised her to undertake a weight loss programme first.

Disney was accompanied to the consultation by Leo Gormley, a 60-year-old father of two who has a significant facial disfigurement caused by third degree burns. Gormley has undergone more than 120 reconstructive plastic surgery procedures to repair damage done to his face, hands, and legs, and campaigns against the idea of a beauty ideal.

At the start of the show, Gormley was anti-cosmetic surgery for beauty’s sake, but he soon realised that the psychological damage caused by the negative attention Disney received as a result of her J-cup breasts, was reason enough to consider breast reduction.

The first in a new six-part television series looking at the very different reasons why people undergo plastic surgery procedures is set to be broadcast on Channel 4 this Wednesday (2).

Each episode of the programme, controversially named Beauty and the Beast: Ugly Face of Prejudice, features one conventionally good-looking person, and someone with a facial disfigurement, both of whom have had surgery to change the way they look.

Wednesday’s show features 47-year-old Susan Campbell Duncan, who has undergone more than 100 plastic surgery procedures to reconstruct her face after she had a rare, cancerous tumour removed. And image-obsessed Sarah Burge, who has also undergone over 100 procedures and holds the record for the most money spent on cosmetic surgery – £539,500.

The show highlights the seemingly opposing reasons why people choose to undergo cosmetic surgery, with some seeing it as a necessity following medical procedures or an accident, and others simply wanting to change or improve the way they look and feel.