With summer only around the corner the dreaded bathing suit season is almost upon us.  All over, women are scrambling to find the next super diet that will shed those winter pounds quick and easy.  Many of the super diets have been around for quite awhile and get passed from woman to woman through word of mouth.  The cabbage soup diet seems to be a very old and popular one.  I have been told about this diet from many women ages 18 to 60.  It requires you to eat cabbage soup for about three days, yes, nothing but cabbage soup.  Its purpose you may ask?  I have been told that it jumpstarts your diet.  Now, no woman has ever been able to explain the magical mechanism by which the diet works; however, they all swear by it.  My best guess is that only eating a ton of roughage and broth cleans out the pipes and empties the stomach.  Another popular get thin quick scheme involves a diet of salmon and grapefruit for a couple of weeks.  Nothing but protein and acid, this just does not appeal to me. 

Besides these natural diets there are a slew of diet drugs on the market that are supposed to speed up weight loss.  Since most women forget that bathing suit season is coming until spring is in full effect the fast part is extremely important.  For faster results many women turn to drugs like Hydroxycut, Dexatrim, and Xenadrine.  Now there are drugs that target women specifically like Slim Quick, Estrolean, Tight Fem and Curvelle.  These products are supposed to be formulated just for women.  So why do we do it.  Why are women starving themselves on crazy diets and exposing themselves to range of non FDA approved drugs in order to fit in a bathing suit.  Whenever I go swimming I see a ton of men, gut out, cellulite glistening (yes men have cellulite), and so hairy that they look like they are wearing fur.  At the same time women of all shapes and sizes are hiding behind cover-ups, dresses, towels, shirts; anything to hide their bodies.  I say no more!  This swimsuit season dare to be you.  To bare your body in its “I have been hibernating” all winter glory.  Hey, if you would like to go to the gym and tone up, or just shake off the winter grays go for it!  But refuse to kill yourself worrying about this or that jiggly part.  Don’t starve or expose yourself to various side-effects in the name of the vanity.  Love yourself, be yourself.  And remember only a dog wants a bone.

When I walked into Starbucks yesterday, a group of men at a nearby table kept staring at me until I wondered what was on my shirt. Finally, one of them looked me right in the eye and mouthed three words I couldn’t make out. “What?” I replied, determined to get to the bottom of this mystery. “It’s your fault”, he repeated. “Walking around with those legs.”

I was stunned; partly because I’d never been sexually harassed at Starbucks and partly because I didn’t know it was a crime to appear in public with my legs uncovered. (I assure you, it was a standard knee length dress not that it’s okay to harass anyone because of what they’re wearing.) So, I did the only thing I could that would not cause a scene and call more attention to myself - since my legs were apparently singing a song by themselves. I stood by the door and waited for my co-workers to finish ordering their coffees and then walked out with them and thanked them for suggesting the trip to Starbucks since it had sparked an idea for a blog: the costs and benefits of beauty to a woman in modern society.

Looks can get you in the door at a job. According to a 2008 study, interviewers are often unconsciously influenced by the attractiveness of new hires and this can influence the outcomes of pay negotiations. Check out this study which examines the “halo effect” at www.sciencedaily.com. Conversely, younger women, especially those who are more attractive or shapely are often encouraged to wear clothes that play down their looks and/or sex appeal so that they are not perceived as unprofessional.

It is universally accepted that no matter how charming an unattractive woman is, her more attractive counterpart will usually find herself with more opportunities for dates and ostensibly, for love and sex. On the other hand, encounters based on a woman’s appearance are often highly sexually charged, disrespectful, and possibly dangerous. The phenomenon of street harassment (which I thought was more prevalent on the streets of poorer cities than inside of Starbucks) has actually claimed women’s lives and shouldn’t be brushed off as merely a rude come-on.

There are other advantages and disadvantages to being perceived as attractive. Women have to spend a lot of time, money, and energy working on their hair and make-up and shopping. This is not to mention the expense of any medical procedures or surgeries - like breast implants - they may resort to in order to alter their appearance. Although these expenses are expected and even demanded, they are also looked down on and people think you are frivolous when you invest in them. I understand this resistance to consumerism and commercialization of women’s bodies, but I can’t help but think that the labeling of fashion and beauty as frivolous is another way to devalue women’s culture. It keeps us continually spinning around while we try to find that perfect balance of being beautiful, making it look effortless, and living the rest of our lives.

So the man at Starbucks got me thinking about how my looks operate in everyday life. While he just saw a pair of curvy legs, and according to experts like sociobiologist Nancy Etcoff, made the leap to fertility and sex, I thought about how many more people had smiled at me that day pleased with my dress. I don’t think they were all looking at my legs. They were noticing that I was happy and smiling, which I can’t help but be when my hair is fairly neat, and I am wearing my yellow spring coat with a pair of heels.

It’s a tradeoff. While beauty is certainly self-expression and a personal art more than anything, it is also a kind of kowtowing to societal mandates. Women who aren’t slaves to their beauty regimen are generally either regarded as having given up or being exempt from the rule that says we have to worry about our looks – e.g. older women, disabled women. (These women are not typically considered sexual or on the market.) But there is a third route where women acknowledge that their looks matter, not so much for the purposes of attracting many potential mates – you just need one good one – but simply because people of any sex feel good when their outsides match their insides. People should feel that their ideas of what is beautiful are reflected in the way that they look. I have a friend who calls people who show no ingenuity in their style “mannequin dressers”, because it looks like they got their fashion tips from a store display. While I don’t dye my hair blond or wear a weave or diet, as the standardized ideas of beauty say I should, I invest in my beauty as heavily as most other women. I just do it my own way. Beauty is not entirely a social construct, as some would have us believe. It’s an actual quality that even children recognize – babies have been shown to gaze at the faces of more attractive people for longer. Who doesn’t get joy out of beauty? In the end, I had to conclude that beauty (and the pursuit of it) is a lot like the sugary coffee I condemn others for buying at Starbucks. A luxury that few can afford because of the expense to pocketbook and peace of mind, but one that most people enjoy nonetheless. They think they need it because it feels so good.

I recently got in the mail my new “Swimsuit” issue from Victoria’s Secret. It never fails…for the past 10+ years, around this time, I get this issue in the mail. For those of you that know me, you know that I have been a fan of Victoria’s Secret since I was a teenager. Each and every year I’d wait for the new line of Victoria’s Secret swimsuits to come out.  Then, inevitably each year I’d flip through the pages looking at the swimsuits that I could never wear. The girls in the swimsuits always had large implanted breasts, and I knew I could never fill out one of their suits.

As most of you also know, one of my biggest reasons for getting breast implants in my twenties was so that I could finally wear one of the Victoria’s Secret swimsuits that I yearned after for so many many years. Last spring, when I got the Victoria’s Secret swimsuit edition in the mail, I didn’t even look it…I threw it straight into the trash, determined not to let it get to my self-esteem (for those of you that don’t know, my implants were removed in 2007.) But, this year when I got this issue, something caught my eye. For the first time in as long as I could remember, the model on the cover did not have breast implants, and did not have large breasts for that matter. So, I decided to take a peak inside. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Victoria’s Secret had about 10 or so new models that I’d never seen before. Yes, they still had a lot of the same models, with the breast implants that they’ve had for many years. But low and behold, the new 10+ models did not have breast implants and did not have large breasts!

I must say that I was very happy to see this. As I have mentioned in a post before, I really feel like breast implants may FINALLY be making their way out the door. After 2+ decades of what has seemed like “breast implant hysteria,” we may finally be making our way out of all this nonsense.

I’d like to thank Victoria’s Secret for showcasing models without breast implants that have small breasts. I realize that Victoria’s Secret is where women in America look to for how and we are supposed to look (like it or not,) and I think it is great that they are moving towards showcasing natural, still absolutely beautiful models. It makes those women out there, like me feel like it is okay to have small, natural breasts. It makes us feel like you don’t have to possess large, implanted breasts to be beautiful, small breasts are just as beautiful as large breasts, and MUCH prettier than fake ones!!

Yay Victoria’s Secret!!

A few weeks ago, I watched a Tyra Banks show about skin bleaching. Women of color around the world will often apply lightening creams to their skin if they think it is too dark, but this episode focused specifically on Black women in the United States who use skin lightening creams. What surprised me was not the topic, which I had already heard of, but the way that the show was set up. Much like a confessional talk show where people are being blamed for sensational and immoral acts, these women were vilified for the choices that they made about their own bodies. I was taken aback by how angry people became as if they themselves were being attacked by the women onstage instead of the other way around. During a commercial break, the Tyra show asked people to call in to the studio if they were offended on behalf of their race by what these women were doing. Don’t get it twisted.

The women onstage did not go back in time to create the brutal centuries-long systemic racism that values fairer over darker skin. Where is the hotline to call in if you are offended by the way that people of color have been denigrated and denied our full rights since the founding of the country? Ms. Banks did not address the issues of systemic racism in the U.S. at all, much less get into how the areas of the world where these creams really thrive - Africa, the Caribbean, India – are mostly countries that were colonized by Europeans. Obviously if power and status are associated with a physical trait that can be passed easily genetically, then that trait will become desirable. I was surprised that no one voiced the connection on the show, but until we do and then examine the effects on our psyches, individually and nationally, we will continue to blame women for the decisions that they make which impact their health. No one makes their decisions in a vacuum.

Many of the guests on the show described being treated negatively their entire lives because of the shade of their skin. People who have grown up with a sense of self-esteem, (which comes from nurtured by friends, family, and society) are more likely to feel comfortable going against the grain and having the confidence to create their own beauty ideals. The women on the stage were trying to be beautiful in the only way they knew how, much like women who dye their hair blonde or those who go on harmful diets in order to lose weight. No one questions these practices, although one is racist and the other extremely harmful to women. (A naturally blonde woman has to be White and therefore the most beautiful women are by definition, White) A wise social reformer pointed out that there is no way that we can grow up in an environment as sick and twisted as the United States – with all of its multiple oppressions and materialism – and not come away with some sort of infection. In other words, no one escapes unscathed or without coping mechanisms, no matter how unhealthy. While the skin creams that women use for lightening are potentially cancerous, it is also harmful to act like the problem is entirely in their heads and that they would benefit from a giant dose of “go girl” feminism.

Now I have to give Tyra some credit. She invited a doctor to talk about the possible health dangers of these “blemish creams”. I say possible because there has really been no research done on the products per se; they are simply known to contain harmful ingredients. Mercury can cause membranous nephropathy, which is a kidney disorder. Acne, eczema, and fungal infections are also risks. (For a complete list, visit http://www.scienceinafrica.co.za/2004/march/skinlightening.htm) It was apparent, however, just by looking at these women’s faces, many of which were scarred and raw in appearance, that “blemish” creams are not a viable beauty aid so much as a psychological salve.

Although it was upsetting to hear, in the year 2009, that many Black women still feel the need to apply dangerous chemicals because they think of white people as prettier, bleaching creams are more a symptom of the problem than the actual issue. When people don’t value their bodies, it is because they don’t value themselves. Now that the President is Black and the first family is of color, I expect the sale of bleaching creams to go down as people of all races see that brown skin can garner status and respect. Light skin, like blonde hair or a size 2 body, was never inherently beautiful. It was just a way, biologically determined and completely beyond our control, of being easily classified by others who could then determine what group a person belongs to (Whites, young people, etc,) and how much respect they should be given.

We do not yet live in a utopia where everyone is considered equally beautiful and the pursuit of beauty does still devour a good deal of everyone’s time, but the face of ideal beauty is growing to include more and different people. Michelle Obama has been embraced as a strong, beautiful fashion icon and her daughters, who could not have bought a doll with their skin tones fifty years ago, are now idolized by millions of little girls. We are living in a time when we can make up new standards of what is attractive – based on who is in power and what they look like– or finally decide to embrace everyone’s beauty.

Let the party begin… it is my 2 Year Explant Anniversary! 2 years since my painful journey began and started coming to an end. Told you I would be here to blog about it. Rather than ramble & reiterate all that I have said before.. I think it will be good to list the pros & cons of this terrible journey.

Cons:

•  Went through hell for 9 months - sick as heck, no memory, foggy, body pains, dimentia, chills, blurry vision, a sezuire, a coma, the list goes on….
• 2 scars under my breasts
• Scary memories that will last forever.. and the scary things people tell me that happened that I have no memory of
• Seeing breast implants seen as such a great thing in the media and how women’s beauty is portrayed
• Missed1 yr of work & life
• Lost my apartment & ruined a relationship
• Found out who my real friends were
• Frusteration that nothing is being done about this crisis
• Lost a lot of money & got into debt trying to get better

Pros:

• Appreciate life now & don’t take it for granted
• Help other women either make the right decision or comfort them and help them in sickness, as they find my site
• Am able to save some money now to buy a house one day
• Got into a wonderful new relationship
• No more anxiety.. I have been through the worst.. now I am a brave woman!
• New challenging job that makes me happy!
• Became closer to my family
• Found an amazing Dr. who helped me get better
• Have met tons of amazing women who love & support me
• Feel beautiful the way I am!

The list goes on & on.. but that felt good and I just wanted to share my anniversary of getting my implants out with everyone. The worst decision I ever made was to put those objects in my body.. and the best thing I ever did was to take them out

I’m sure by now that most of you have heard of the popular show on VH1 Rock of Love. The show is very much like the popular show The Bachelor, only with a twist.  The “gorgeous” women compete for the love of one man. If you haven’t heard about the show already, here is a little snippet on what it is all about:

Are you ready to rock, reality TV style? Again? And on a bus? Well, get ready for the third installment of Bret Michaels‘ eternal quest for a rockin’ chick to love, which arrives just in time for the New Year.
This time around, Bret is bringing the women along as he travels America for a month-long solo album tour, Rock My World, to show them what the rock star life has to offer. As Bret rolls into each town in his pimped-out black tour bus, a pink bus filled with beautiful blondes and a blue bus filled with gorgeous brunettes competing for his heart will follow close behind.
In past seasons, Bret made it clear that life on tour with a rock star is not easy and can present unique challenges. So, each time the buses pull into a new city the girls will take on challenges specifically relating to Bret’s life on the road. They may have to greet aggressive groupies with polite smiles, dodge the advances of the warm-up band, or even fill in for mysteriously missing roadies. From ice hockey and Mud Bowl 3 to a sexy dance off and working backstage, the girls get down and dirty, as each one strives to stand out among the rest.
The winner of each challenge will be rewarded with a date showcasing the best of what middle America has to offer–perhaps a toast atop the St. Louis Arch or a romantic picnic in the shadow of the world’s largest chicken. For some, however, the challenges will prove too much and they will have to face eliminations and at least one girl will be left at each stop. Whatever the case may be, these girls will definitely be put to the test to win over Bret and handle the crazy life of a rock star girlfriend. In the end, there is only one VIP pass for Bret’s true Rock of Love.

Now, I can’t say that I am HUGE fan of the show, by any means. But, I do have quite a few girlfriends who watch the show, and because I like to “be in the know,” I try to catch an episode every now and again.
I must say that I was pretty appalled after tuning in to watch the first episode of season 3. Through the first half hour of the show, I just kept thinking “is THIS really what a guy is looking for, is THIS really how a man would want his wife to act, is THIS really want a man would want his wife to look like?” My husband had caught part of the show with me (before he got too grossed out and silently left the room,) so I asked him “babe, you know if that is what men are looking for, you know I could look like that too…dye the hair bleach blond, maybe a few extensions, get the triple D size implants, start shopping in the lingerie store for my every day clothes, etc.” His response was “no that is not what I want you to look like. Not only does that not turn me on, but I wouldn’t be able to take you anywhere outside of the house!”
So, I wondered….is my husband just incredibly different then all of the other men out there? Because apparently THIS is what guys are looking for in a future wife….all F.A.K.E. What do you think guys? Is this what you are looking for? Is this what has become the acceptable standards of beauty today? Or, are shows like this just sending the wrong message of what beauty is?
I realize that you will probably say “oh that is just what Bret likes, you know he is a Rock Star and all, most men don’t like that look at all.” OR “they are just trying to go for the “shock factor” because it is a TV show, and that’s how you get people to tune in.” And yes, I agree that that may all be true. But ask yourselves this… aren’t young impressionable girls watching this show? Is this the message we want to send them…that you have to have bleached hair, fake boobs and hair, and show off your body in order to land a man?
I don’t know about the rest of you, but this scares me. What has happened to natural beauty, or beauty on the inside, or even leaving SOMETHING up to the imagination? If these types of shows are what we are going to see in the future of every day television, then we are in for a rough ride.

Hello All,

President elect Obama’s team is asking for input on health care reform during the month of December.

Let you voice be heard!

We wanted you to know about this so you can go to the web site and give your thoughts.

Here is the link to the web site. Register your comments there.

Please go there and fill it out the simple form. We have written something you can cut and paste into the comments section, or you can write your own. See below for our request or in the attached file.

Please send this to your friends,family, web sites, post it on your Blogs, and send to your mailing lists. Get the word out there.

As we all know the FDA needs help and can use an overhaul so they can hold the manufacturers responsible and accountable to their commitments.

Feel free to cut and paste the below comment.
Pass it on.
Thanks. Happy safe Holidays to you all,

Sybil and Mary

_______________________________________

Over the past several years, we have seen that the FDA has not been up to the job of protecting our nation’s health. This problem has been especially apparent in the area of medical devices. The New York Times recently reported concerns that the FDA leadership has regularly ignored concerns of agency scientists and approved unsafe or ineffective medical devices.

We have seen these problems firsthand in the area of silicone breast implants. No one knows what effect these implants will have on women’s bodies beyond 10 years because the research just hasn’t been done, yet silicone implants were put back on the market in 2006 and since then have become the most popular plastic surgery in this country.

Despite this approval, there are still just too may unanswered questions about the safety of silicone breast implants. The facts are clear. Implants have caused serious health problems. We deserve to have a product that works safely. But right now, the FDA simply doesn’t have the authority to demand the science to prove that implants are really safe.

It is vital that the FDA be given the resources and the authority to insist that products are safe before they are put on the market and implanted into our bodies. The consequences are too dire to needlessly experiment with our health and our lives.

I reached an important anniversary on November 29th.  Four years ago, I had my breast implants removed.    

I, like many women, had breast augmentation because I didn’t feel very feminine.  I felt boyish and awkward in my thin body.  Too tall, too thin, too lanky, UGH!  I could have gone on and on with everything I felt was wrong with how I looked.  In reality, all this was in my head.  My perception of myself was very misguided by air brushed photos and beautiful movie stars that looked nothing like what I saw when I looked in the mirror.  This is something that I became obsessed with changing.

 It has been a very long journey for me.  Back in 1996, I made the decicsion to have my breasts augmented.  Feeling thilled with my outcome and finally feeling like I had a better body image, no one could tell me what lay ahead for me.  

In 2001, I became completely disabled and it took another 3 years to find out that my implants were making me very ill.  Those three years really delayed my recovery as I found myself becoming more and more ill and suicidal.  On October 19, 2004, I attempted to take my own life.  Unfortunately, this is another date that I will never forget but I have been able to rise above all of this and have slowly been getting pieces of my life back again along with my health. 

My implants were removed on November 29, 2004.  I have made so much progress since then.  I’m still disabled but my health has been slowly improving.  I feel better now than I have in many, many years.

Like Krista mentioned in her post regarding her explant anniversary, I look at this as a lesson learned.  I no longer look at women with big fake breasts and think they look beautiful.  The entire experience has changed the way I look at myself.  Surprisingly so!  Fake breasts are just not very attractive to me at all. 

 This experience has had other positive effects as well.  I no longer abuse my body with the wrong foods.  Healthy food and exercise are all part of my life now.  Sure I still have some body issues.  The only difference now is that I look to exercise in trying to improve my look.  This is something that I wish I would have thought about years ago. 

I’m angry that so many have lied to me about the safety of breast implants so I use my experience and research to educate other women.  Women should have all the facts prior to having something like this done.  In my opinion, there is nothing safe about breast implants.  You are inserting a foreign object in your body that has many chemicals in it.  Chemicals that cause cancer and autoimmune related diseases.  There is so much that can go wrong with this type of surgery. 

For all the ladies out there thinking of having this done, please do your research.  Thoroughly do your research and make sure you read the chemical list.  Seeing that alone 12 years ago would have made me realize that these are not safe to put into the body.  Don’t be fooled into thinking that only silicone gel implants contain these chemicals.  The outer shell of a saline implant is silicone so you are being exposed to these chemicals with all implants.

This indeed was a hard lesson learned!

beth

KATY PERRY has insisted “the rack is real” - hitting back at rumours that she has breast implants.

The controversial I Kissed A Girl singer is furious at suggestions that she’s had work done on her breasts.

Flaunting the goods in question, Katy ranted: “How could people think these are fake? Look at ‘em. Ask them! They are as real as real can be. One hundred per cent genuine and untouched… well sort of.”

“I would never spend money on fake boobs. Shoes, maybe. A handbag, maybe. But plastic tits – no way!”

Katy – who is dating GYM CLASS HEROES star TRAVIS McCOY – added: “I am not against people who get things done. A tuck or a lift never hurt anyone. In 50 years time I may look like a Siamese cat in a wind tunnel but as of this moment I haven’t and the rack is real.”

Here is another example of how we have heard about how safe some of these fillers are when used in the body.  I have been a skeptic all along.  Just biding my time waiting to hear about complications.  I ran across this article that says fillers, Restylane and Juvederm can cause blindness.  What shocked me was that some are using SILICONE oil!  I’ve read that fillers like Restylane is a natural substance found in the body.  Well NOT if it can cause blindness!

I’m glad that the NYT came out with the article.  Maybe it will make women stop and think before using these fillers anywhere on the body. 

COSMETIC doctors have a new way to mitigate tear troughs, those shadowy under-eye indentations that are the bane of people trying to camouflage an aging appearance: the injection of viscous substances around the eye socket.

But as more doctors embrace the procedure, some physicians said they were seeing more complications. While the Food and Drug Administration has approved dermal fillers like Restylane and Juvéderm for treatment of facial wrinkles and folds — a use for which those substances have a high safety record — the fillers have not been approved for the eye area. Nonetheless, several thousand physicians now offer off-label under-eye injections, according to the estimates of six doctors interviewed recently. At a recent plastic surgery conference in Chicago, doctors anecdotally reported an increased incidence of short-term under-eye mounds, discoloration and persistent hard nodules. There are also a handful of reports by doctors in Japan, Brazil, South Korea and Austria of blindness caused by cosmetic injections of silicone oil, fat and other materials under the eyes. Now some doctors are growing concerned. “Certainly I wouldn’t’t do it myself or have it done on me,” said Dr. René S. Rodriguez-Sains, a Manhattan oculoplastic surgeon. Five years ago, he saw four to six patients a year with problems caused by under-eye injections performed elsewhere. This year, the number has risen to one or two patients a month. On Tuesday, the F.D.A. held a public meeting to review facial fillers and to examine whether their popularization is getting ahead of safety and efficacy studies. In the past, the agency has required companies that market fillers to conduct small, short-term trials before approval, as well as post approval studies. Representatives of manufacturers and medical societies addressed the F.D.A.’s panel to assure them that the materials are safe. A representative of Allergan, for example, said that it had sold a million syringes of Juvéderm in the United States since 2006 and received reports of complaints in less than 0.25 percent of cases; the most common problem was swelling. Juvéderm is a gel made from sugar molecules called hyaluronic acid that temporarily reduces nasolabial folds, the wrinkles from the nose to the corners of the mouth. Another hyaluronic acid filler is Restylane, from Medicis Pharmaceutical. Other approved fillers include Radiesse, and ArteFill, which contains permanent nonabsorbable plastic beads.

Doctors in the United States performed about 1.5 million soft-tissue filler injections last year, up from about 1.2 million in 2006, according to estimates from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. With the growing popularity of the treatments, the F.D.A.’s advisory panel on general and plastic surgery devices met to weigh whether the agency should require makers to conduct longer-term and larger studies with a greater representation of skin types, and histological studies of tissue response to injected particles.

The panel also considered how manufacturers might study safety and efficacy in unapproved uses in the lips, nose, hands and under-eye area. The concern is that other body parts may have a different physiology in which tissue cells may react differently from facial skin, with the potential for complications.

“In a nonapproved case, it’s essentially a little research project going on because we don’t know if these tissues and structures in that area are going to behave in the same way as the tissue the device was approved for,” said Stephen Li, the president of Medical Device Testing and Innovations of Sarasota, Fla., a company that develops materials for medical implants and a consultant to the F.D.A. panel.

Patients aren’t always aware that treatments they are having are off-label. The F.D.A. prohibits companies from marketing unapproved uses. Representatives from Allergan, Medicis, BioForm Medical (the maker of Radiesse) and Artes Medical (the maker of ArteFill) said they did not promote off-label uses. A spokeswoman for Sanofi-Aventis, the company behind Sculptra (approved to treat facial fat loss in H.I.V. patients), said it neither promoted off-label use nor trained physicians to perform such indications.

But doctors are free to use fillers as they deem appropriate for individual patients. For example, several medical societies have created injectablesafety.org, which covers both approved and unapproved uses of dermal fillers; the site is financed by grants from BioForm, Artes and Medicis.

The F.D.A. has reports of facial lumps that formed after off-label use of Sculptra; of localized dead tissue following the off-label use of Radiesse; of lumps, swelling and discoloration after off-label use of Restylane and Juvéderm; and letters from doctors concerned that the off-label use of ArteFill has the potential to cause serious problems, according to the agency’s online database on device complications.

Doctors said that lumps formed by hylauronic acid gels like Restylane and Juvéderm had a remedy: injections of an enzyme that disperses the material. Lumps formed by longer-lasting fillers may require excision. But there are no comprehensive statistics because the agency requires manufacturers, not doctors or patients, to report problems.

Last year, the F.D.A. received 160 reports of problems connected to filler injections, according to the agency’s Web site. But, if even 15 doctors in America treated the same number of complications a year as Dr. Rodriguez-Sains, that would amount to more problems than those listed last year in the F.D.A. database.

In 99.5 percent of cases, doctors inject fillers without incident, said Dr. Bruce L. Cunningham, a plastic surgeon in Minneapolis. “It’s safe most of the time,” he said. “But when there is something that goes wrong like lumps, bumps or, more importantly, necrotic tissue, it does stick out in doctors’ minds because it is so different than what we usually expect.”

Still, Dr. Cunningham told an audience of doctors at the meeting in Chicago that the prospect of increased regulation “is enough to send the shiver of death up your spine.”

Some doctors are concerned that the F.D.A. might interdict such popular off-label uses of fillers as lip-plumping, which many physicians consider safe, he said.

Dr. Brian S. Biesman, an oculoplastic surgeon in Nashville, said he would welcome more study. In his office, patients who undergo under-eye injections sign a form consenting to the nonapproved use of a filler and acknowledging the risk of vision problems, he said. “If the F.D.A. were to encourage the companies to get more data or if the F.D.A. were to require it, I think it would be great,” Dr. Biesman said.

Dr. Julius W. Few, a plastic surgeon in Chicago, said that ancillary medical personnel and doctors who lack expertise in cosmetic treatments were responsible for most filler complications.

But Dr. Richard D. Lisman, an ophthalmic plastic surgeon in Manhattan, said that all injections around the eyes — even steroids or lidocaine for medical purposes — entail rare risks like vision loss, even when performed by eye surgeons. If doctors are reporting more lumps from injections, it is because more doctors are performing the technique more frequently, not because of a flaw in the filler, he said. He himself does not inject fillers in an off-label manner, he said.

“When you have an increased quantity of periorbital injections and an increased number of specialties injecting, it’s a natural consequence to see a very small but very real downside,” Dr. Lisman said.

 beth