A Risky Business? Understanding Risk in Cosmetic Surgery

Abstract

This chapter is about how risk is perceived by women and doctors in cosmetic surgery. It will unpick women’s narratives and experiences of risk in cosmetic surgery and will explain what women identified as the risks of cosmetic surgery. It will also detail the risks these women reported that they were apprised of by doctors when they decided to have cosmetic surgery and also how these risks were explained to them. Doctors perceptions of risk and how they outline these risks to their patients will be analysed as will the process through which doctors seek informed consent. By analysing what each group says about risk, the chapter will further develop a key theme of this book which is that women and doctors seem to engage in different and separate discourses about the processes and actions involved in cosmetic surgery.