Over the years, glorification of the ideal female body has exerted pressure on women, especially, to achieve this. This has made some to go out of their way  for that perfect body. Nelvis Mwangi who had cosmetic surgery shares her journey. 

Sandra Wekesa @wekesa_sandra

When she was in her fourth year in university, Nelvis Mwangi’s perception of beauty changed.

She came to the realisation that the weight she carried about  and her shape were far off from what was sold to many as the ideal body shape.

She desired to have an hour-glass figure and more than ever, wanted to lose weight.

Weighing 75 kilogrammes then, she was not comfortable in her skin and this really affected her self-esteem so much such that she rarely full body pictures. 

Additionally, she lost her confidence and felt insecure and judged forcing her to cover up.

She started wearing a corset to achieve a smaller waistline, but the pressure restricted her stomach, ribs and chest.

Nelvis opted to join a gym to solve her insecurities. But this was even harder than having to use a corset. She would often get injuries after a workout session.  

“For six years, I dedicated myself to consistently working out, I would eat healthy, go on diets and use a corset to achieve that perfect look, but it seemed draining.

I would lose some kilogrammes, but my physical appearance wasn’t pleasing,” she recalls.

After pain with no gains…

Throughout the pain that bore no gains, Nelvis had thought about going under the knife, but was skeptical about it considering the many misconceptions that have for a long time been attached to the procedure.

Even so, she still kept that thought alive in her mind and weighed on what she was willing to do and how far she would be willing to go to achieve that perfect body.

It is at this one point that she started researching whether it was possible to have a cosmetic sugery procedure in Kenya.

Then she slowly moved to establishing contacts and the cost of having it done.

“With the little information I had on cosmetic surgery, I always thought I had to break a bank to achieve the look,” Nelvis recalls.

While on this search, she once got a cheap deal that was being advertised on social media. She reached out and within no time, she was ready for liposuction.

For the 26-year-old businesswoman and content creator, this was a ticket to getting her desired body in just a short period. She would also get to wear her bikinis comfortably. 

But this didn’t turn out as planned, “I felt like I had wasted my Sh250,000. The pain was too much around the stomach and back area.

I still had a lot of back fat, which I didn’t like and it took me three months to heal.

Postliposuction, I had to go to that clinic for two weeks to be drained fluids from the sutured area,” she reveals. 

This then meant her journey for the search of an ideal body was not yet complete.

Therefore, Nelvis continued searching and finally opted to settle for a 360 liposuction, Brazilian butt lift, arm reduction, hip enlargement, breast reduction, and breast lift and thigh reduction.

The procedure, which was done in September last year at Da Vinci Medical Group took six hours.

Post surgery, the pain wasn’t as intense as her previous one since the doctor had used modern technology.

The aftercare she received made the process easier. Within two weeks, she was good to go apart from her breasts, which took another week to heal since they are delicate. 

“I remember the first time I opened up about cosmetic surgery, I received a lot of criticism, but that didn’t stop me from being proud of my body,” she explains.

The hardest part was opening up about cosmetic surgery to her parents. She thought that she would receive a backlash and this really worried her.

But as soon as she decided to explain to them how important this was, they were okay with it.

Nelly sees cosmetic surgery as an easier and safer option, which she can vouch for. 

Gaining popularity

According to Gladys Nyachieo, a sociologist lecturer at Multimedia University, cosmetic surgery is particularly aimed at modifying one’s body by improving the external appearance to fit a description of one’s choice.

She notes that it has gained popularity, in the recent past, which can be attributed to people learning more about it from celebrities and through through the media.  

Andrew Were, a plastic and reconstructive surgery resident doctor at Da Vinci Medical group says unlike before, many people are opting for this procedure.

The costs of proceedures have substantially fallen and are more affordable now.

“The most common procedures are liposuction for both men and women, breast lift and reduction, tummy tuck, Brazilian butt lift and fat transfer, which could range from Sh250,000 to Sh500,000 depending on the procedure one wants,” he says.

He adds that plastic surgery is not as bad as people always think —the problem arises when quack doctors get involved.

This often leads to complications and botched surgeries. “Getting a procedure done by a certified doctor in a good clinic will save you from going through hell to achieve your desired body,” he says.

Nyachieo adds that glorification of beauty is putting pressure on women to want to design their bodies to what is accepted by society as ‘beautiful’. 

She strongly believes that cosmetic surgery isn’t a safe way to go. “Some cosmetic surgeries go wrong.

We have heard cases of women dying after a cosmetic surgery gone wrong. Also, some cases show that it can lead to permanently deformed features  such as what happened to Iranian teenager who went under the knife to look like Angelina Jolie, but with bad results,” she says in ending.