Newly published: "Im Dienste der Schönheit" (In service of beauty) [27.01.2012]

In contrast toreconstructive plastic surgery, which is concerned with damages caused by illnesses, injuries or accidents and with the correction of congenital formal and functional anomalies, the aim of curing is questionable in aesthetic surgery. Persons making use of aesthetic surgery are rather clients than patients, i.e., they are (organically) healthy and they undergo an unnecessary medical intervention.

Earlier considered as a marginal phenomenon of the rich and beautiful, aesthetic surgery has arrived in everyday life of society and is expanding continuously although the costs for aesthetic plastic surgery are not reimbursed by the German health insurance system. Accordingly, the costs for these interventions have to be assumed by the client himself. The majority of the persons who undergo aesthetic plastic surgery are women between 18 and 30 while the number of men is comparatively small but rising in recent years.

"Im Dienste der Schönheit? Interdisziplinäre Perspektiven der ästhetischen Chirurgie" (In service of beauty? Interdisciplinary perspectives of aesthetic surgery) is the first publication on philosophical, medical, ethical, social, and legal aspects of aesthetic surgery in German. The book consists of four parts: The first part (aesthetic surgery and the medical profession) focuses on the compatibility of aesthetic surgery with the (traditional) medical ethos. Besides ethical problems, practical challenges in daily routine are also discussed. The second part (aesthetic surgery between standardization and optimization) is dedicated to the ongoing change in medicine with regard to commercialization, individualization, and standardization. In the third part the tension between the pursuit of happiness, the aim of authenticity and the alignment with nature is discussed. The fourth part analysis the legal questions of aesthetic surgery, e.g. when intervening with minors.

Bibliographic data:
Lüttenberg, B.; Ferrari, A.; Ach, J. S. (Hrsg.)
Im Dienste der Schönheit? Interdisziplinäre Perspektiven auf die Ästhetische Chirurgie. Münster: LIT 2011. ISBN 978-3-643-11293-4, 280 p. (Münsteraner Bioethik-Studien, Bd. 11)
more about the book (german)