Posted May 12, 2011 in Beauty, Blog, Uncategorized
“…to the sole end that my beauty may soften thee; for the tears of beauty in distress turn rocks into cotton and tigers into ewes.” Cervantes, “Don Quixote”
Classic literature often describes beauty in timeless accounts that facial plastic surgeons should be aware of, and embrace. The above quote from Cervantes’ classic “Don Quixote” is as true today as it was when originally written in 1605.
400 years later in “Survival of the Prettiest, The Science of Beauty”(2000), Harvard psychologist Nancy Etcoff discusses how human beauty is an essential and ineradicable part of human nature, from what makes a face beautiful to the deepest questions about the human condition.
Megan Whaley in reviewing Etcoff’s book states, “She (Etcoff) believes that appreciating beauty is not learned, but rather is a biological adaptation. Etcoff argues against the cliché “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” by suggesting that sensitivity to beauty is due to an instinct that has been shaped by natural selection. She criticizes the standard social science model argument that “beauty must be a matter of individual taste or cultural dictate” and instead, reveals both the things we find beautiful and why it is that we find them beautiful. Etcoff challenges the idea that the media are to blame for our obsession with looks, and stresses the fact that no one is immune to appearances. If the world were to eliminate every magazine and media form containing images of youthful, flawless bodies, we would still create and desire these images in our minds. Humans are born into the world with the ability to discriminate the beautiful. Children, even babies, prefer what adults recognize as beautiful. Research on infants’ perception shows that children as young as three months are staring at attractive faces longer than at unattractive ones.”
Returning to Don Quixote, in the same passage of the Cervantes quote above, “Lady Dulcinea del Toboso”, the woman with whom Don Quixote is obsessed, describes herself, “…turn, I say, those timourous owl’s eyes upon these of mine that are compared to radiant stars, and thou wilt see them weeping trickling streams and rills, and tracing furrows, tracks, and paths over the fair fields of my cheeks.” The “fair fields” of cheeks! What an eloquent description of beautiful cheeks.
We look forward to maintaining and improving the “fair fields’ of our patients cheeks for many years to come. Sancho, hand me the Sculptra please!
Dr Michael Persky is located in Encino, California but services all of Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley. Including, Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Santa Monica, Malibu, Sherman Oaks, Studio City, Calabasas, Woodland Hills, Tarzana, Westlake, Thousand Oaks, Agoura Hills and more
