By Funmi Peter- Omale
The sudden craze for body modifications, aka BBL, tummy tuck, facial injections, hair transplant, fat or silicone injections, teeth veneers, etc., etc., in Nigeria; is because cosmetic procedures are not regulated.
Government may give the impression they are but they are not.
For as long as some ambitious individuals, who see the openings in that trade and also want a slice of the mega millions of naira, go for a three days or one week shoddy cosmetic trainings and thereafter get a licence to register and open a centre, the misadventures of vulnerable women will continue.
Bear with me as I explain.
I call them vulnerable, though we can argue they know what they are doing, for what and why. They took themselves from their homes, and go to these or for these body modifications by themselves and paid the required millions or whatever for the service.
The truth is that anyone, man, woman or child who isn’t contented with how they look or how people see them, has what is called BODY DYSMORP.
“Dysmorphia, or Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD), is a mental health condition characterised by an intense, obsessive preoccupation with imagined or slight flaws in physical appearance.” (Google)
In simple terms, ” is an anxiety disorder related to body image, often considered a subset of OCD, where individuals obsess over perceived defects in their skin, nose, hair, or overall body shape.”
That is why I say they are sick. You have to be sick, and “mad” to subject your body to cosmetic medications that will bring you challenges and problems you may not be able to manage later on as you get older and your body succumbs to ageism.
In our society, people think that only people walking around naked, half naked, dirty or talking to themselves are “mad” (as we say in Nigeria).
Unfortunately, I want to put across to you that those people who think they need to modify their bodies or how they look, also fall into the category of “madness”. Say what you like think what you like as per the reasons, they are sick.
Feeble reasons like “I want to make myself happy”, or butt is too small, or shapeless, stomach is too big, or bigger than the butt, or boobs are too small or have become droopy, nose is too small, too wide, teeth are too brown, or too big or too small or they are crooked, etc etc. These are just feeble excuses to cover up their imperfect perceptions of themselves and their bodies or parts. Plus, this is a demonstration of an underlying mental health imbalance or disorder as they say in medicine.
Of course, the richest and most beautiful A-lister TV, movie and music stars have or are doing body modifications every day. Does that make it right? No. Do they also have body Dysmorphia and struggle with what and how they look? Of course.
Human beings are made to be and feel like that, discontent and always wanting to change or improve things we struggle to live with. The ridiculousness of some of these things are mind blowing.
I mean I do not know or understand why people would wake up and choose trauma and pains for their bodies and themselves.
My last child, he was breech right from inception, and as pregnancy progressed, the medical team I was under chose a definite “elective cesarean section” for me. It was scary and all, having had normal pregnancies and deliveries for the previous one. While praying for a miracle change of position, the baby didn’t budge, even when they tried to move him manually. Didn’t work. The scans and everything.
On the chosen date, fast forward to the pre-theatre theatrics, I was told it was the “classical cesarean,” whatever. Never heard of it, don’t know who had ever done it. In fact, they said it’s only chosen as a last resort blah blah blah, especially because of the risks and all…
Well let me tell you, with the epidural and being kept awake and all, during the procedure, I am living with not just the scars from my navel down to my pubic bone, but also the trauma! I felt all the tugging, heard the slashing, splashing, and sloshing of the blood and all. In fact, I couldn’t see the baby for a while because I was bleeding, and the team went into a code red. I knew and felt something was wrong with me, getting drained, the panic and kindness on the face of the nurses holding my hands, but I was paralysed from the chest down because of the epidural. I was crying, and they were wiping my tears with soothing words, but the surgeons were battling to keep me alive …. (I was later told about the fibroid the size of an orange and other cysts all around, and the reason for the bleeding).
Oh well, after all that, would you believe, post-operation, I asked if they removed the fibroid and cysts? No they didn’t. They explained that I was not scheduled for that and was not prepared for that. That will have to take place later in the years down the line.
This piece is already long, so I will cut to the chase. Five years later, I had to go for another surgery because my monthly period was heavy, painful, and long! Imagine a monthly period of 40 to 50 days? There was no letting up, and it was endometriosis. So another cut from the navel all the way down. The first try, after being given the anaesthetic, my body went into anaphylaxis and was told my body started shutting down. I was already sleeping, so didn’t see or hear anything. But after being revived, the surgeons with a whole team of about ten people in medical gowns surrounding my bed, asked me “Why did you give us a scare, we almost lost you?”. That’s when I touched my tummy and saw no cut… what happened. And I was told about the anaphylaxis and body shutting down, blood pressure and oxygen way down, blah blah. Me I stopped listening. Because it means I had to come back again after several tests and all to know what I reacted negatively to. The different medicine and food tests took over one year, two years later, I finally had the surgery to correct the endometriosis.
So, why would I deliberately subject myself and my body all over again for things like tummy tuck, BBL, etc?
When once a while, the scars on my tummy open up a wound if I so as much wear tight clothes or underwears that rub into it, it starts bleeding and I have to go on steroid creams and pain tablets. This happens at least three times a year… I don’t pray this for my biggest enemy.
I have taken time to give these details, for people to understand what pains, trauma and scars necessary medical procedures can cause the mind and body….
You’d never imagine or suspect the challenges those people face after their cosmetic surgeries. They look beautiful and put together; girls don’t envy them. Some of them, their tissues are rotting from the inside out, some that can afford it regularly go for top-ups and take offs, some of them will never be able to have children, some of them, one or two of the nerves, organs or whatever have been damaged. Some of them actually stink, some of them are liabilities and have to take medications for those chemicals in their bodies keep working.
That is why I say they are sick. You have to be sick, and “mad” to subject your body to cosmetic medications that will bring you challenges and problems you may not be able to manage later on as you get older and your body succumbs to ageism.
All for what, I ask again. Because I wouldn’t even want to have a “classical cesarean section” ever again, I still feel the pins from the stapler they used to hold my skin together. Sometimes I feel there’s a pin or two that wasn’t taken out, painful scars and occasional bloody wounds.
*Funmi Peter-Omale, journalist, writes from London