i see cosmetic surgery as a personal thing, so can't take issue with those who feel they need it. guess i'll take my lumps as they come.

i do have a problem with the tv reality shows that do the big makeovers. that takes it out of the personal realm and into the public eye.

i watched one where a very average looking couple went to separate places for several months for makeovers including nose jobs, teeth, all the usual stuff. at the end, they were revealed to each other and their families at the same time. they looked great - and then i saw their 3 teenagers who all looked like mom and dad USED to! what did that say to those kids? something like, "oh, hi, kids - we thought we were so homely, we had total makeovers. but don't worry, when you go under the knife you'll look just like us again!"

flipperjo, I do have a problem with these shows too. I could just imagine how those kids must have felt. Where was the mom and dad they knew?

I only watched the show once last year and I thought that maybe a few of those people on it had more serious issues. They came out looking like totally different people. How does a family relate to that?

My friend in Arkansas said this show made her feel badly about her own appearance! Trust me ladies, this is a very good-looking woman who needs nothing done.

So, what do shows like this do to the morale of people who think they need something done?

A complete facelift here in the Cleveland area currently costs $25,000.00. All these shows do is frustrate the vulnerable segment of our society.

I agree that cosmetic surgery is a personal decision. There are myriad reasons women elect to go under the knife. Many women are indeed capable of making an 'improvement' and moving on without developing an obsession to get more surgery. Many are not, but it's still their decision, and, eventually, their cross to bear.

Personally, even though I would love to have my abs and breasts back to pre-childbearing perkiness, I have decided I will never put myself under the knife unless it is for a life saving procedure. I have actually had some huge improvements in the gravity department due to weight training at my gym, but if I wanted to run naked on a beach in Brazil without worrying about what other Americans thought of me, I would need a couple of areas adjusted.

I worry about America's obsession with Youth. I worry about the time wasted on obsessing about physical flaws. If I could have back all of the time I wasted in crazy diets and physical self-obsession, I would recouperate nearly half of my life. And if I could have back all the money I've wasted on those diets, gadgets and beauty products, I could pay my mortgage twice over.

The older I get, the less worried I am about what other people think. I don't embrace each new wrinkle and gray hair as some personal 'Red Badge of Courage', but I simply refuse to waste any more time.

I think physical self-obsession keeps women down. I know I'm not the only one who has sacrificed time and money in a pursuit of a physical 'perfection' that simply won't ever exist. There will always be another wrinkle, another gray hair, another pound to lose or muscle group to tone. But there will never be another minute to replace the one lost in worry about those things.

I think about the hobbies I have taken on over the years, but eventually gave up due to "lack of time." I could be proficient in playing the guitar and violin, I could be a black belt in karate, I could be a really fabulous artist in the pencil and charcoal medium, and I could be a world-class clogger. I didn't have time to find excellence in those areas, but I had time (and money) to pour endless hours into beauty regimens, diets, dreams of how perfect my life would be when I hit that magic number on the scale or how good I would feel about myself when my beautician finally found my perfect hair color... and guess what? I still have a few pounds to lose, muscles to sculpt, grays to cover and wrinkles to fret over, and I still can't play the guitar or wear a black belt unless it happens to go with my outfit. I still can't produce a drawing much more complicated than a jointed stick figure, and I can only clog well enough to impress a dance club full of drunk revelers when they play Cotton-Eyed Joe by The Rednex.

I truly believe that some point some of us have to draw the proverbial line in the sand over the pursuit of physical perfection and try to encourage women, as an entire sex, to move further along in the cerebral department. I see the diet-surgery-Youth obsessions as roadblocks to positive momentum, sort of like a mental Molasses Swamp from the original Candyland board game.

It would take a lot of surgery to make me perfect by some people's standards, and it's not something I would personally contemplate doing. I look my age, and it doesn't bother me a bit. With my health history, I'm just glad to still be around.

I was a bit bothered by the comment about breast cancer survivor's who opt for reconstructive surgery. I have some survivor friends who have done just that, and I firmly believe it was the right choice for them. As someone said, it's a personal choice.

Breast cancer survivors or people badly mangled in accidents, fires etc. or even those with fixable birth defects have every right to be as good as they can be and should do whatever it takes for them to feel normal, whatever the hell normal is anymore. I understand and even applaud them BUT these silly asses that are never quite thin enough, or wrinklke free enough or young enough are pitiful senseless fools. That said, the world is full of them so say the plastic surgeons sunning themselves on their yachts in the south of France.....

I must say I would never criticize a breast cancer survivor or anyone like Chatty mentioned above who chooses to have reconstructive surgery.

Chatty is very right when she says they have a right to feel as good about themselves as they can.

I'm a breast cancer survivor who decided against reconstructive surgery. I've had so many surgeries, and more to come, and they were done and being done to make it so I can live an almost normal life.
Any type of plastic surgery, not for me! I've had enough of the other kind....you know....the kind that saved my life!
Lynne

NHJackie, I've reread every post in this thread and no one criticized breast cancer survivors who opt for reconstructive surgery. Where did you see that?

LSmith, I can truly understand your reasons for not wanting any more surgery. I hope you are well now and feeling great!

Hello Everyone - I scar very easily so plastic surgery is not an option for me even if I wanted it. I was at a new years eve party where this woman looked rather freakish with a frozen face and obvious fake teeth. Scary looking, but a nice woman. I feel bad that she did that to herself.
I do eyelid exercises to keep mine from drooping. Look up while raising eyebrows. Leave eyebrows raised while closing and opening eyes, lower eyebrows. Repeat. I think it helps and has the added bonus of waking me up if tired.
I've heard some good things about Thermage as a substitute for surgery. Light pulses. Makes your body generate collagen. That seems like a less risky alternative.