To the extent that beauty's advantage is a "cultural stigma" that's all well and good, but the point of the article is that beauty is a somewhat credible measur

To the extent that beauty's advantage is a "cultural stigma" that's all well and good, but the point of the article is that beauty is a somewhat credible measure of other qualities, like health and intelligence. When people get plastic surgery, they're gaming other people's sexual instincts and so rendering them invalid. Cosmetic surgery gives you "beauty" in the same way that processed sugar gives you "nutrition"...that is, it doesn't. Eventually, people will evolve some other antennae that can't be corrupted so easily.