Most of us have knowledge about the miraculous power of a placebo to the mind which can affect the body. Taking a sugar pill can act like a real medicine in treating the patients effectively but in a limited way. But invasive procedures produce a stronger placebo effect than non-invasive ones. Meaning, a pill can provoke a placebo effect but an injection or surgery can produce a stronger placebo effect in the body. Hence, sham surgery can be as good in alleviating pain as real surgery. It may sound unethical but it works in fixing broken back, torn meniscus, knee surgery, and treats arthritis, plus it reduces the consuming resources available.
In 2009, there is a study conducted wherein researchers observed the effect of fake and real vertebroplasty that is being done on a group of patients. The first group went through real surgery while the other underwent a fake procedure. Vertebroplasty, by the way, is a reconstruction of the broken vertebrae due to weak bones. So, surprisingly but not so shocking for researchers, they found no significant difference between sham and real surgery. The health of all patients improved by the same amount. Also, in a 2002 study, a standard arthroscopic surgery is done on the first group, lavage for the second group and the third group received a one-centimeter incision but no actual procedure was performed. Shockingly again, they found the executed arthroscopic surgery in treating arthritis was no more effective than the sham operation.
However, others find placebo surgery unethical because doctors were deceiving the patients and end the beauty model's career by having an ugly scar in their flawless skin. But even if the patients are informed that the procedure which is going to be applied is a placebo, they would still undergo that surgery because they trust their doctors that they could heal them. From their positive expectations, they are tricking their brain to release a bunch of painkillers and other healing components to remove the pain they are experiencing.