|
Hi Ramon,
Thanks for the good question.
First, you may certainly have both procedures.
You have
a duty to care for your eyes, and changing your eyes
so that they see properly is not mutilation. That said, be sure
that your glasses are correct, first, before you incur
the added expense of surgery. I often have prescriptions
that are made wrong!
As for the hair, a hair transplant
procedure in general could be done for vanity, or be
very costly, and therefore not be a good thing to do
in those circumstances. However, in your case, the hair
loss is in an unusual area, and it could be a matter
of embarrassment or humiliation, to which you are certainly
not obligated to be subjected. Even regular cosmetic
hair transplants are morally permissible, as are other
cosmetic surgeries, provided they are necessary for you
in your vocation or profession.
For instance, a person
who makes a living out of his or her appearance is permitted
to invest and maintain the appearance in a way that, for
a normal person, would be frivolous.
Or a young person
of marriageable age would be permitted to alter a feature
that impaired his or her chances of attracting a mate.
Now bear in mind that none of these things is intrinsically
evil. The only thing that would be evil would be the
mutilation of the body in a way that impaired functioning.
All the other procedures, from makeup to tattoos, would
come under the rule of virtue and moderation. As cosmetic
procedures become more commonplace and less expensive,
the moral burden against them shifts from the inordinate
expense and vanity to only the vanity.
Eventually, as
everyone starts having them, not having them becomes
a more and more difficult act of virtue, even to the
heroic! Of course, absolute obligations pertain only
to negatives
("Do not kill"). There is no absolute
obligation to a degree of virtue, such that not attaining
it is a serious sin.
One last thing. God planned us to function and be healthy.
The forces of nature frequently cause problems, as do
the actions of others. These problems are permitted by
God so that we have an opportunity to exercise our liberty
in a good way. We must take steps to care for ourselves
and our health, and to care for others. No one would
ever say,
"He was born with a cleft palate, so we
should leave him that way because it was God's plan."
Mary Ann
|
