A new documentary will be released on August 1, 2008 that will expose the horrors of plastic surgery gone wrong. 

I think it’s a must see for anyone considering plastic surgery.  The documentary called America the Beautiful talks about women that have gone for different cosmetic procedures and have had horrible results. 

Former “Today” show guest host Mary Nissenson had a brow-lift at 42 and, 12 years later, is still experiencing severe pain.  

Nissenson’s pain was caused by a rare condition called reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD).  This disorder can occur when nerves are damaged.  

 Nissenson before surgery

 After surgery (photos courtesty of The New York Times)

Of course the documentary will cover breast augmentations as well.  It is reported that the number of malpractice cases have risen dramatically and according to the The New York Times article regarding this documentary, most of the cases are for breast augmentations gone wrong.

I hope everyone will take some time to not only watch the documentary but The New York times article has a place for comments.  First watch the trailer for the movie by clicking on the ‘America the Beautiful’ link and then click on the link for the NYT’s article and post a comment. 

I hope anyone thinking of having cosmetic surgery thinks twice before going under the knife.   It’s not always as safe as you may think.

Beth

WARNING!!! Somewhat graphic photos to follow!

I found some interesting photos on mallvibes.com today that I thought everyone would be interested in seeing. There was also an interesting thread of discussions on breast implants at mallvibes, so if you get a chance, jump over there and check out the comments.

After seeing these pictures I wondered if any women who have breast implants have really considered what their body and breasts will lool like as they age. I know when I was getting my implants it was more of an instant gratification kind of thing. I didn’t wonder what I would look like 20, 30 or 40 years down the road….nor do I think I really cared. I wanted those implants NOW! I couldn’t see past now, or what my future breasts would look like. I think this is true for most women getting implants. I also wonder if plastic surgeons explain to their patients what the implant and breasts will look like as the body ages and the skin loses elasticty. I’d imagine this doesn’t come up a whole lot in consultations. Women are more concerned with what size, what type, etc to care about 10 or 20 years down the road.

I hope after seeing these photos that it will encourage women who have implants to get them taken out ASAP, and that it will discourage those women who are contemplating getting implants-not to get them. Who wants to look like this woman in 20 or 30 years?  Not me!

Let’s all grace naturally and beautifully!

Beauty and the Breast previously reported about Dr. Maure here.  The latest on this story is that the French doctor, Dr. Michael Maure, which translates to Dr. Death, goes on the run after his trial for allegedly mutilating 96 patients in his unlicensed PS clinic. 

Dr. Maure claimed to be one of the top cosmetic surgeons in the world.  This couldn’t have been further from the truth.  He claimed to be a licensed PS but was actually a trained anaesthetist. 

One woman that he performed a breast augmentation on reports that  “The operaton was a total failure. Not only was it painful, he sowed me up raw and I saw bits of flesh on the table which were meant to correspond to my left breast. Doctors I’ve seen since then have told me the damage was so severe it could not be repaired.” 

You can read more of the nightmare stories from his patients here.

I hope this man is found and sent off to jail for a very long time!

Beth

All of us here at Beauty and The Breast were discussing the episode from July 24th on The View. The entire episode was centered around plastic surgery. Now, I know that plastic surgery is a big part of our society today and that in order for these types of shows to keep the interest of their viewers, they have to talk about the “hot topics” in our society today, but I can’t tell you how much these types of shows annoy me.

First of all, they always seem to glamorize plastic surgery. And, let me tell you ladies, there is nothing glamorous about plastic surgery. Having been through it, it is quite the opposite of glamorous. Anesthesia, hospitals, scalpels, pain medication….what about that is glamorous? I suppose that people think that it is worth it to go through all of the pain and torture for what they hope to look like afterward, but as we have pointed out here at B&TB, plastic surgery is too often not all it is cracked up to be. Too many times patients end up either looking like the bride of Frankenstein, are “overdone” or “underdone,” or still aren’t happy with the outcome for various reasons.

Speaking of the outcome, I found it very interesting that one young girl on the show had a breast reduction, reducing the size of her breasts from a size DD. Another girl on the show had her breasts enlarged from a A cup to a DD. Now, how does that make sense? What that tells me is that women just aren’t happy with what they are given and are always looking to find that “one thing” that is going to give them all the happiness and success that that they desire. What women fail to understand is that no procedure is going to give you all of these things that you so desire. Success and happiness cannot be found from a plastic surgeon and a scapel.

Another thing I want to point out is the fact that a young girl, Amanda was on the show with her Mother and Surgeon talking about her recent breast reduction. Amanda is only 15 years old! I should also mention that she had liposuction on her stomach in addition to the breast reduction. Amanda’s Mom claims that Amanda needed the surgery because she was being made fun of at school, her teachers were “trying to cover her up,” and because Amanda would have developed at eating disorder if she didn’t get the liposuction.

One of my favorite blogs, Jezebel wrote a great piece on this segment of the show. This is what the ladies at Jezebel have to say:

Amanda is small, so you can see that DD/E cup breasts might be a strain on her tiny frame. But since she is obviously not obese, why would lipo be necessary? To prevent an eating disorder, of course! Amanda’s mom explained that everyone in their family has belly fat, so she knew that even though her daughter was “eating less and less” it would never go away. Amanda’s doctor had no problem doing the surgery, since “not everyone is blessed with the right looks,” and he likes to “give children who are disadvantaged a chance to look better.”

Some of the comments are priceless, which I must share here:

My mother wouldnt let me wear make up until i was 14 (i totally did anyway but you know…she tried). I just recently joked around with her about me getting a chin lift and if looks could kill i would have imploded.
Whatever happened to loving your daughter for who she is? And encouraging her to enjoy being young and a teenager? Way yo go, mom of the year! Way to catupult your poor 15 year old daughter into a world of constant surgeries to maintain the LIPO you got her before she actually FINISHED developing.
I’m going to get a tub of ice cream and a hamburger. who’s with me?

In my day, “disadvantaged” meant children who couldn’t afford a fancy schmancy education, or basic necessitites such as food/clothing, not being “blessed with the right looks”. And I know I’m not even old, things just got messed up fast.

This is sick, and that doctor is horrible. Whatever happened to “do no harm?” And really, if you want to preempt an eating disorder, send a kid to a counselor, not a plastic surgeon.
Even her breast reduction seemed frivolous. She had no health problems, but she was self-conscious because people teased her. Isn’t that just part of being a teen? Although if her teachers were seriously picking on her for that, that is appalling. Does this girl have no respectable adults in her life?

I, of course agree with the comments made above. What exactly are we teaching our children if, at the age of 15 we are letting them have plastic surgery? Are you kidding me? This is just perpetuating the problems in our society today. Teenagers are so totally obsessed with their looks and material possesions, and the parents are the ones encouraging them to be this way! Instead of instilling values, responsibility, good work ethic, love and compassion, acceptance of oneself and others, we are teaching our children starting at a very young age that they are not to accept and love themselves as they were created. This is setting them up for complete failure down the road in life.  What about this picture is completely wrong? A LOT!

Check out this article about women getting their wedding party gifts of botox & cosmetic sugery for being in the wedding.  Just as I was thinking that I would probably be very offended if a friend wanted me to get plastic surgery for her wedding, I saw this… AMEN -

“But for every accommodating pal, there’s another who feels going under the knife is beyond the duty of bridesmaid. Becky Lee, 39, a Manhattan photographer, declined when a friend asked her — and five other attendants — to have their breasts enhanced. “We’re all Asian and didn’t have a whole lot of cleavage, and she found a doctor in L.A. who was willing to do four for the price of two,” said Ms. Lee, who wore a push-up bra instead.”

You go Ms. Lee - I wish I could give you a hug. A surgery isn’t something like a necklace or a meal. It is permanent. Imagine if you got sick from this surgery.. you would be very angry at your “friend”!

Check out what the ladies at feministing.com have to say.

Keira Knightley has refused to allow any enhancement of her cleavage on publicity photos for her upcoming movie “The Duchess,” Britain’s Daily Mail reports. Studio heads reportedly want to enlarge Knightley’s bosom in the photos, but the actress, 23, put her foot down.

“She has insisted that her figure stay in its natural state,” an insider said. “She is proud of her body and doesn’t want it altered.” This isn’t the first time Knightley has faced this dilemma. The actress drew negative attention in 2004 with her larger-than-usual breasts in publicity stills for “King Arthur.”

 

“Those things certainly weren’t mine,” Fox News quoted her as saying in 2006. According to Knightley, the studio marketing team was behind her suddenly C-cup breasts, but gave her final approval on the photos. “I was like, ‘OK, fine. I honestly don’t give a s—,’” she recalled.

Knightley has expressed dissatisfaction with her small bustline. “I would love to have [breasts]!” she told Britain’s GMTV last year, adding, “I’m never going to get [them]. I’m naturally who I am.” While she’s a fan of going au naturale in “The Duchess,” Knightley looks “flat-chested in the whole movie,” the source says.

Here is a great ABC News Video on the subject of Keira Knightley and digital enhancing.

Go Keira! You make us all proud, girl!!

Feministing showed us a new video game recently, and although the video game industry isn’t exactly known to treat its female characters with respect, we’re still disgusted. It’s called “Fat Princess,” and Feminist Gamers (a site we haven’t seen before but are glad we know about now!) has some choice words about it.

Every little girl wants to be a princess, right? But no one wants to be a FAT princess! Then no prince will come to rescue her; instead, they’ll fight an army… just to get rid of her! LOL!

Don’t little girls have a hard enough time having a healthy body image without more not-so-subtle messaging telling them how to objectify themselves? Then again, if we can find this, this and this for our kids, it’s really not anything new. We say: Don’t buy it. There are plenty of other games out there, and even though these games are released and played by lots of people, we can teach our children better.

More feedback below.

Broadsheet:

“A new video game from Titan Studios/Sony has taken the cliché of the beautiful princess in distress, turned it on its head, and fed it lots and lots of cake. So much that — ha ha ha ha ha!!!!! — it apparently takes a whole crowd of soldiers to carry her. See, because she’s fat. Joke’s on you, Mario.”

Melissa at Shakesville:

“…[T]he only thing I can’t figure out is why anyone would want to rescue a fat princess in the first place, since everyone knows that fat girls are unlovable human garbage at whom any sensible bloke would sooner hurl invective than cast a longing glance.

I sure hope there’s a clever dénouement like the Fat Princess magically becoming thin once she’s rescued! ‘Cuz that would rock, yo!”

Youth is a lucrative business.  Our appearance obsessed culture drives this industry fed by media with glorified images of youth.  Women are led to believe that beautiful equals smooth skin sans wrinkles, tanned skin, a thin body, and perfect features.  We spend endless energy and countless dollars on products that attempt to harness a youthful look and prevent the aging process.  From Botox and plastic surgery, to anti-wrinkle creams and lotions, nothing is too expensive, and no effort too great.

And it’s not just middle-aged women that are afraid to grow older.  Younger generations of women and girls are also influenced by the media’s implication that youth is more beautiful. I distinctly remember my friend, at the age of 18, telling me of her plan to retreat to an island when she turned 30 for an extended vacation, during which she’d have a face lift, liposuction, and any other plastic surgery that she felt was necessary.  At 18!  This was a beautiful young girl, already afraid of aging.

The television network, TLC, has a new primetime show that feeds into our fears of growing old.  The show, “10 Years Younger,” features guests that feel older than they really are.  Complete strangers critique the women and guess their age.   Next, a “glam squad,” consisting of a fashion artist, makeup artist, and hairdresser, are given ten days to take a decade off the woman’s looks.  So essentially, these women are publicly berated for “letting themselves go,” and then “rescued” from the perils of aging, all by a complete group of strangers.  It’s no surprise that my friend, the one planning on plastic surgery at the age of 30, was a huge fan of TLC.

I find our obsession with youth as the only symbol of beauty to be particularly sad.  Why must we fight a natural process that should be celebrated, or at the very least embraced?  Is it really advantageous to appear younger than we are?  Are wrinkles really so terrible? Is it necessary to inject a form of pig botulism, otherwise known as Botox, into our face in an effort to paralyze facial muscles that create expression?  Why exactly are we so terrified of the aging process?  These are important questions to ask ourselves.

I believe that wrinkles show character, the kind that comes with age and experience.  And I would much prefer the value that comes with appearing to be my own age, 31, instead of the misconception that I’m in my early twenties.  I certainly don’t want men to treat me as though I’m younger, nor would I want to appear younger for a job interview, for example.

There’s no denying that youth is beautiful.  However, it’s not the only acceptable form of beauty.  Maybe if popular media stopped ripping apart women for every little wrinkle or other sign of aging, we’d begin to feel better about growing older.  Men can become distinguished with age, so why can’t women?  I’m over 30, and still young in most respects, or at least in my own mind.  But I’m not immune to the fear of growing old.  However, for now, I can say that my life hasn’t ended.  And I certainly haven’t taken a plastic surgery vacation, nor do I plan to anytime soon.

This article really sickened me.  This woman, Alicia Duvall, a British Model has had numerous breast augmentations.  She said that she wants to continue to have this surgery done to ’sort things out’.  I think she better try to ’sort things out’ by having the implants removed and learn to accept what God has given her. 

These things look terrible and rock hard!  What is even more disturbing about this story is that she is encouraging her daughter to have her breast enhanced as well.  However, at the ripe old age of 12, Alicia believes that her daughter she should wait until she is 16. 

She states that she knows it will eventually kill her so she wants her daughter to experience this same fate???  I’m stunned!

Sorry, but in my opinion, women like this should not have children.  I can’t imagine a Mother would want her daughter to go through what she has.  This is very hard for me to believe. 

This in my opinion is a woman that really has some serious problems that she needs to sort out and it shouldn’t be in the way of another breast augmention (14 in all and an estimated 50 cosmetic procedures total!)

Beth

I found these photos on the dirty.com today. It is pictures of a young woman, who obviously has some type of eating disorder, who also had breast implants placed. My first thought is the obvious….gross! She is like a skeleton with a little skin covering, and two obvious lumps of silicone shoved into her chest.

After the initial reaction wore off a bit, I started to feel really sorry for this woman, and then wonder “what plastic surgeon in their right mind would EVER give this woman breast implants?!” Instead of the plastic surgeon taking this poor woman’s money and shoving breast implants into her chest he or she should have assisted this woman in getting her help with her eating disorder and her obvious body image issues.

This is the problem with the plastic surgeons today….too many of them are willing to drop breast implants into a woman whether the woman is mentally stable or not! They say they do a thorough a psychiatric evaluation on each woman, but it obvious that this is not happening.  This woman is obviously not mentally stable and should have NEVER been given breast implants! What is wrong with our society today? Is this what girls REALLY think looks good?