Cosmetic surgery, also called plastic surgery or aesthetic surgery, refers to surgical operations changing, transforming, reconstructing, and shaping the physical human body, and adding or removing body parts for aesthetic purposes. Cosmetic surgery includes operations on the face (such as face-lift and rhinoplasty) and operations on other parts of the body (such as breast augmentation or reduction, liposuction, and abdominoplasty), all conducted under anesthesia. The most common procedures include rhinoplasty, which is usually known as a nose job, as well as breast augmentation or reduction. A subgroup of aesthetic medical procedures, called minimally invasive procedures (such as injection of botulinum toxin or injecting filler materials around lips), are also widely employed.

From a medical perspective, what we know today as cosmetic surgery dates to antiquity. The ...