Who Cares If You Want Plastic Surgery? MEGA’s Founding Editor Sari Yap Weighs In

Ask yourself this: at least once in your life, have you ever judged anyone who has had plastic surgery? Whether it was in the form of a double take as you passed someone on the street or a snide remark on someone’s photo to your group of trusted friends, this is something to think about.

MEGA Magazine’s Founding Editor Sari Yap took to Instagram recently to share some insight about this particular topic.

I’ve had a two and 1/2 year break from any beauty maintainance or improvement. No botox, no lasers, no slimming treatments. During this time, I grew in self love by just allowing my body to be. Whatever I saw in the mirror was ok. A 15 pound weight gain? Fine. Wrinkles around the eye? Bring it on. It’s hard working in an industry where we improve through retouching even the already near perfect bodies and faces of celebrities. The result is often judgment of ourselves. I was always too fat , too short, too physically imperfect. And the body suffers from all that self loathing channeled through the constant effort to change and mold it to a standard. But we are all different and unique. We do not compare birds or flowers to each other. The small ones are just as beautiful as the big ones. The single color canary is just as beautiful as a peacock. So why must we conform to an arbitrary standard to be considered beautiful? Today , after having learned my lessons in body acceptance and love, I was able to return to the @theaiveeclinic to do some square jaw Botox to bring my face to a more oval shape with no guilt. It’s not what we do to our body , it’s what’s motivating us to do it that matters. Now I know I am good enough as I am. But I am also allowed to tweak here and there to please myself , not others. #bodyacceptance #selflove

A post shared by Sari Yap (@sarivyap) on Jul 6, 2018 at 5:34am PDT

Sari began her post by sharing that she had taken a two and a half year break from any type of beauty procedure. Whether it was a wrinkle or slight weight gain that she saw in the mirror, she simply shrugged and told herself that it was fine, leaving her body and mind in peace. Afterwards, she revealed that she had just paid The Aivee Clinic a visit, getting square jaw Botox with no ounce of guilt in her system. While she says that you should know that your current appearance is good enough, one should be allowed to “tweak here and there to please myself, not others.”

Her post was definitely a breath of fresh air. In a world where we’ve grown accustomed to judging others’ physical appearances, one can easily get carried away. Unfortunately, with the rise of social media came this constant pressure to look “perfect”—whatever that is, anyway. Someone can be judged for being too flat one day, then mocked the day she gets her breasts augmented. Another girl can be called too fat or curvy, and when she undergoes any type of slimming treatment, she is automatically shamed for it. If it isn’t obvious already, perfect doesn’t exist in the beauty industry.

Related: The Secret To Looking Younger Is This New Injectable

Sari ended her message with an inspiring thought: “It’s not what we do with our body, it’s what’s motivating us to do it that matters.”

In the end, it all boils down to acceptance—accepting yourself for who you are, flaws and all, and if you want to make a few adjustments, then why not? What is important to note is that you are doing this for yourself, and not because you want to look “perfect” for someone else.