Medicalization of Female Beauty: A Content Analysis of Cosmetic Procedures

Authors

Ashley L. Merianos, University of CincinnatiFollow
Rebecca A. Vidourek, University of CincinnatiFollow
Keith K. King, University of CincinnatiFollow

Abstract

Over the past decade, cosmetic procedures have significantly increased in options available for females to achieve the American cultural standards of beauty. The purpose of this study is to conduct a content analysis of brochures and to observe what cosmetic procedures are made available to female customers from plastic surgery centers, and also to examine the medical and therapeutic framing techniques used to encourage females to undergo cosmetic procedures. Three plastic surgery centers (overall response rate= 60%) located in one metropolitan area served as participants for this study. The researcher observed the locations and collected all brochures made available. Twenty - one diverse brochures were used in this study as well as the researcher locate d the websites to view any missing information of services offered not included in the brochures. A content analysis was conducted of the brochures. All of the cosmetic surgery centers were accredited and advertised each plastic surgeon’s credibility. Various invasive and noninvasive cosmetic procedures were offered by each center including procedures that focus on the face, breasts, body, and skin care. Additionally, all cosmetic surgery centers marketed their elective surgeries to females by using medical terms as well as therapeutic terms. As the rates of cosmetic procedures have significantly increased overtime, cosmetic surgeons appear to benefit from employing medical terms to diagnose beauty among their target population of healthy females. In addition, using therapeutic terms to ensure increase self - esteem among females is another beneficial framing technique

Keywords

Cosmetic Surgery, Content Analysis, Medicalization, Therapy, Beauty

Publication Date

11-18-2013

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2013.1440

Recommended APA Citation

Merianos, A. L., Vidourek, R. A., & King, K. K. (2013). Medicalization of Female Beauty: A Content Analysis of Cosmetic Procedures. The Qualitative Report, 18(46), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2013.1440