Although surgeons & laypeople generally fail to recognize cosmetic surgery benefits beyond mere aesthetics, men & women bragging about cosmetic surgeries are deemed as higher in status; women gain in attractiveness

Folwarczny, Michal, and Tobias Otterbring. 2020. “Cosmetic Surgeries as Conspicuous Consumption: Disclosing Information About Having Undergone Cosmetic Surgery Signals Social Status.” PsyArXiv. December 17. doi:10.31234/osf.io/n4p37

Abstract: Do patients incur cosmetic surgery risks solely for aesthetic reasons, or do they draw additional, status-related benefits? Like other species, humans strive to attain high status in hierarchies as it helps them solve challenges linked to survival and reproduction. Cosmetic surgeries are costly, both bodily and financially. Organisms employ such seemingly self-handicapping actions to signal status. Across a series of studies (N = 1276) on UK and US samples, we demonstrate that although surgeons and laypeople generally fail to recognize cosmetic surgery benefits beyond mere aesthetics, men and women bragging about cosmetic surgeries are deemed as higher in status. Moreover, for women—but not men—status inferences are partially driven by attractiveness perceptions, consistent with an evolutionary account. However, contrary to what evolutionary theories predict, both sexes are keener on cosmetic surgeries after evaluating attractive opposite-sex models. Thus, people may "use the knife" to signal status, especially when mating motives are salient.