It’s really fascinating … when we think of beauty,
Aphrodite, the Goddess of Beauty comes to mind, and when someone mentions the
name Aphrodite, we immediately think of beauty.
She is indeed a universal symbol of beauty and the variety of sculptures
used to depict her, not only testify to her enduring importance, but also
prompts us to consider her significance in the portrayal of beauty.
Aphrodite, born from a union between Heaven and Earth,
according to Greek Mythology, captivated the beauty and love of the universe,
and was really what we call a “femme fatale”.
She is comfortable and feels provocatively “at home” in her body. Other females embodying her archetype include
Egyptian Cleopatra, Greta Garbo, Marilyn Monroe, and Elizabeth Taylor, from the
past, and Madonna, Jennifer Lopez, Beyoncé and Monica Bellucci, from the
present. But what do all these women
have in common? Other than the fact that
they are all drop dead gorgeous … they all have curves! Their waste to hip ratio, (WHR), which by the
way makes women irresistibly attractive, is O.7.
According to evolutionary Scientist, Devendra Singh, from
the University of Texas at Austin, a WHR of 0.7 (meaning that the hips are
almost 1.5 times larger than the waist) is what makes male brains tick and they
are subconsciously forced by their evolutionary programming to actually receive
a signal of fecundity and produce the ultimate verdict: Attractive! Let’s also have in mind that all the winners
of the “Miss America Contests” from 1920 until 1980 had a WHR ranging from 0.72
to 0.69.
A starved Barbie will not get you the best catch in town, or
the name “sex bomb”, even though it might get you a job as a model. For this type of career, Sheli Jeffry, a
scout for Ford, one of the world’s top model agencies, while searching for
beauty, says that the right body type is “Thin … you know, the skinny girls …
the ones that are basically hangers for clothes.”
Therefore, speeding through all the body types, from
Aphrodite’s to the model-type hangers, and everything in between, women seem to
feel incapable of “measuring up” to the ever-evolving image of feminine
beauty. So … should we deny Aphrodite
and reconstruct her to match today’s beauty standards? Let’s invite her to the plastic surgeon’s
office, along with her beloved Adonis, for an initial consultation, and find
out what her complains would be and what could actually be altered to make her
a Goddess of Beauty for 2014 …
Of course, knowing that there are many qualified Plastic
Surgeons who are certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery in the US,
and the fact that each one will come up with a variety of ways in dealing with
specific patients’ concerns, we present some of the possible recommendations
that may arise during the initial consultation.
Aphrodite’s body proportions:
We have a beautiful woman with normal curves, but she is the
typical present day patient visiting a plastic surgeon’s office. The advances
of body contouring techniques, which are common practice today, are partly
responsible for this trend of women seeking a slimmer and more athletic look. Following this trend, and with Aphrodite in
the office, the plastic surgeon still has to evaluate and treat her, and give
her all the possible options to help her fit in to the current standards of
beauty and the ideal body, regardless of her title: “Goddess of Beauty”. Aphrodite’s face:
Nose: the angle
between the upper lip and the base of the nose looks about 90o,
while the ideal angle stands at 95o. This could be addressed with
rhinoplasty to rotate the tip and bring down the dorsal hump (top part of the
nose).
Jawline: there
seems to be fullness right below the jaw and the chin, which would be solved
with a small amount of liposuction.
Ears: she seems to
have an ear deformity, which could be addressed with an otoplasty.
It is difficult to comment on her cheeks, eyes and chin projection due to the angle of the
painting … so she gets away with that!
Aphrodite’s body:
She seems to have more than a half-inch pinch throughout her
abdomen and love handles. The fullness
in the abdomen could be partially caused by muscle laxity and not just body fat
(lack of gym hours!). She would be a
perfect candidate for upper body liposuction and perhaps a mini-abdominoplasty
through a small incision in the bikini line (don’t want the line to show when
she’s at the beach!) It’s hard to comment on her breasts but if she has any
interest in perfecting her body, she would also consider a breast augmentation. 
Aphrodite’s thighs:
Unfortunately, the curves on the female body have become
out-of-fashion and banal; therefore Aphrodite would be self-conscious to wear
short skirts or hot pants, due to the fullness of her thighs. Straight lines are
the trend nowadays which gets her being in great need of a thigh liposuction,
for a slimmer and more even look.
Aphrodite’s knees and lower legs:
The patient needs to visit the plastic surgeon in person for
further evaluation of this part of her body.
Chopped, pulled apart, cut into pieces, criticized,
reinvented or reconstructed, the point remains the same: Aphrodite will always be the Goddess of Beauty! And each one of us will remain goddesses and
unique in our existence, no matter what we look like, no matter what the trends
of the era we live in are, and no matter what anybody says. At the end of the day, who we are, what we
would like to change on our bodies, and what we actually go ahead and
ameliorate or alter, is only based upon our own view of what beauty is! And …
this is how it should be!
The painting
chosen is oil on canvas and it is called Venus and Adonis,
painted in 1614, by Dutch painter, draughtsman and printmaker, Hendrick
Goltzius. It is found in Munich, at Alte
Pinakothek. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Hendrick_Goltzius
Your complete satisfaction is most important to us
ReplyDeletehttp://www.stephanidesplasticsurgery.com/index.html