The case of Kisa Gbekle and the growing trend of body enhancement among Ghanaian female celebs
"My tummy was on my laps anytime I sat. And that depressed me for almost a year," Ghanaian actress Kisa Gbekle on why she decided to spend GHC58,000 for a tummy tuck surgery in Turkey.
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Ghanaian female celebrities have over the years, resorted to the easiest ways of looking more attractive and curvaceous by going under the knife and coming out transformed and sometimes, unrecognizable!
The trend of body-enhancing surgeries has managed to eat into the very crust of Ghana's high-class society and has relegated to the background, the hard way of exercising and eating healthy to stay in shape.
Nowadays, the trend of digging up old photos of celebrities and pitting them against their current photos has left much to be desired and also left many reeling in shock over the vast difference.
Source: Instagram
Even though many celebs would not admit to undergoing these body-enhancing surgeries, the photos end up telling a totally different story.
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Some celebs have overlooked the many side effects that come with body enhancement surgeries and even the excruciating pain they have to go through just to look and feel good in the stature.
"People have told me that I would die of cancer for undergoing a body enhancement surgery", Ghanaian actress Kisa Gbekle said in an exclusive interview after she openly admitted to undergoing a surgery to look beautiful.
Body enhancement surgeries
Body-enhancing has been described by many as the desire to change a part of one's body for a number of reasons.
While some have said they are after the 'perfect figure' to look their best just for social media likes and follows, others have said they would enhance their bodies to better their chances of landing a rich man who can take care of their material needs.
The Body Enhancement Procedure
Body-enhancing surgeries are said to be very painful if one is not placed under any form of anaesthesia.
Kisa Gbekle admitted that she was not going to undergo any form of body-enhancing surgery again due to the pain she had to go through in Turkey with her tummy tuck procedure.
"I don’t think I will do another again because the pain I went through during my tummy tuck was very severe and I won’t do it again", the actress said in an exclusive comment to YEN.com.gh.
Cost of Body Enhancement surgeries
Even though a number of hospitals in Ghana pride themselves as the go-to place for body enhancement and sculpturing, many people would rather fly out of the country to undergo such surgeries.
The reason for such a decision would be to remain discreet so as to go under the radar when people who have undergone such surgeries are being named.
Again, the trust that Ghanaians have in foreign healthcare as compared to local healthcare delivery would move them to go with the former instead of the latter.
Body enhancing surgeries does not come at a cheap price as it would take close to the average person's fortune just to appear pretty after undergoing a procedure.
Using the example of Kisa Gbekle, the actress indicated that she had to fly out to Turkey at $3,200 (GHC20,481) and paid the surgeon €8,000 ( over GHC58,000) for the tummy tuck.
The average Ghanaian earns between GHC1,000 to GHC5,000 and it would take close to a year for someone earning the maximum salary to be able to afford such an enhancement.
Due to the costs involved in these surgeries, some of these celebs have to use a chunk of their savings or depend on a sponsor to undergo surgery.
Desire to look different
Even though the general notion of body-enhancing surgeries is to look good, many celebrities who have openly stated that they had done one or two changes to their bodies said they did so because they had the means.
Many people have asked if that is really the case and have alluded the surgeries to inferiority complex, a desire to get more appeal from a sexual perspective or the urge to stand out in a room full of celebs.
It has long been a notion that many Ghanaian men are attracted to voluptuous and curvaceous women and tend to spend more on women in such a category.
As a result, some of these celebs tend to undergo these surgeries just to look good and land the richest person in the room so as to get a 'sponsor' to fuel their extravagant lifestyle.
Ghanaian actress Kisa Gbekle, openly admitted to undergoing a tummy tuck surgery to look good and said she decided to do it because she had the means.
"A lot of people have done [it] . I will speak for me. If something is not nice for you and you have the money, you can have it fixed," Kisa Gbekle noted.
Enhancing the body for Social Media?
Some celebs are the first to post photos of their enhanced bodies on social media once they have a procedure done.
They would hurriedly defend their stance about not enhancing their bodies despite the glaring difference in their old and new photos.
For Kisa Gbekle:
"...is not a competition. Something was wrong with my body and I couldn’t fix it by training that fast. So I opted for a tummy tuck to get it done."
She went on to add that even though many people said she underwent the procedure just to get social media appeal, that was never her aim.
"My tummy was on my laps anytime I sit. And that depressed me for almost a year," Kisa narrated.
"It doesn’t better my social media . I was like this before my tummy got spoilt and I had to get it done . So it’s just the same energy for me . When you look at my old pics and now, there is no bigger difference"
However, the likes of repented socialite, Moesha Boduong rose to fame after admitting that she had enhanced her body and started posing photos of herself wearing bikinis and skimpy outfits showing her curves.
To some, enhancing one's body was a way of branding which put them in a better position to influence for companies for money.
The general overview of celebs keeping their body enhancement procedures a secret is the fear of society bashing them for doing something that defies God's creation.
"They fear what the public will say. Or they just want to keep it private", Kisa Gbekle alluded to the above notion.
Disadvantages of body enhancement
Like everything in this world, body-enhancing surgeries have their side effects and have attached to them some ingrained tendencies of negativity from the scope of culture, religion and morality.
Adverse side effects
From having implants getting misplaced or burst inside a person, one has to grapple with the fears of suffering some temporal or permanent hurt after such a bank-breaking procedure.
Criticism from the public
"Oh some say I will die of cancer", Kisa Gbekle recounts some of the vile words she received from the public.
Apart from dealing with personal fears, one would have to deal with human forces who talk down the idea of having a procedure done on one's self.
Sharing her own experience with critics, Kisa Gbekle said she had been told many terrible things after she came out to boldly announce that he had undergone a procedure.
Some say my body was already good why waste the money? Some said I did my body for the gram but I’m still not getting the attention I want .Some say very horrible things. But I only knew what I was battling."
Even though body enhancement surgeries have proven to have a lot of aesthetic value as well as social media appeal, some have said they did so for none of the reasons above.
Religious apologists would stick to the notion that it would be against God's divine will and purpose to alter one's figure for whatever reason, body-enhancing surgeries prove to be a means to an end for whatever reason one decided to have it.
For some, it brings contentment, for others, it is just business and for some still, it is all about one's spending power and the ability to do what makes them happy. For whatever reason you decided to have your body enhanced, just do you, be happy!
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Source: YEN.com.gh
