Since the origins of mankind, beauty became a highly appreciated quality, bringing pleasure to the soul and senses, developing a similitude with good and evil. Is beauty under the skin or on the surface? For thousand of years the question has been in the air, traveling from philosophers to poets, and free thinkers in general.

However, no other period of time that the 20th century has been devoted to the exaltation of beauty and Cosmetic Surgery as a means to achieve the standards imposed by a number of determined factors: fashion trends, commercialization of Mass Media, increasing mass consumption, social acceptation, health problems, personal decisions, etc.

Whatever the reason, Cosmetic Surgery is an option to correct physical problems, recover lost body shape, reconstruction or restoration of body structure, and so on. Actually, there are a large number of procedures for altering appearance, some of them linked to vanity and some others are complementary to medical surgical procedures or required for aesthetic reasons.

If the popularity of cosmetic procedures began in the 1940s-1950s, the history of Cosmetic Surgery dates back to ancient times, with records as early as the 8th century BC, describing otoplasty and rhinoplasty surgeries in India. It is more likely that a number of procedures would be performed in China, as later were recorded in Greece and Rome, near the 1st century BC.

From the middle ages to the 18th century, rudimentary cosmetic surgeries were performed to correct simple physical defects, but in the 19th century, Cosmetic Surgery was taken seriously beginning the evolution of surgical procedures, broadening its focus to different problems and areas of the body and face. In the United States, the first plastic surgeon was Dr. John Peter Mettauer.

Dr Mettauer performed the first cleft lip operation in 1827, using surgical instruments designed by himself, although the father of plastic surgery is Sir Harold Gillies, a New Zealander Physician that joined the Royal Army Medical Corps in London after the outbreak of World War I . Dr Gillies developed many of the techniques of modern plastic surgery in caring for injured soldiers during this period.

Gillies wrote the first plastic surgery textbook, "Plastic Surgery of the Face", published in 1920, and completed another work in 1958 with D. Ralph Millard: "The Principles and Art of Plastic Surgery". For his notable contributions to plastic surgery, Sir Harold Gillies' home in London's Hampstead/Highgate area exhibits today a blue plaque, a sign attached to houses where someone famous once lived

Nowadays, Cosmetic Surgery is a popular "remedy" for most issues involved with personal enhancement or physical reconstruction. During 2004, cosmetic procedures performed in the United States generated 11.9 million dollars. Although, there is a polemic differentiating between Cosmetic Surgery and Plastic Surgery, a specialty recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties.

There are numerous cosmetic procedures including abdominoplasty (tummy tuck), breast enlargement, face lift (rhytidectomy), abdominal etching (ab etching), rhinoplasty, cheek augmentation, eyelid surgery (blepharoplasty), buttock augmentation, breast lift (Mastopexy), liposuction, labiaplasty, and many other procedures, including collagen injection and chemical peels.