A World of silicone and Botox. Vain and shallow, or smart and necessary?

A segment on the Today show this morning prompted me to post this short story I wrote about cosmetic procedures. The segment was about the new wave/acceptance of seniors as models. The lead-in was about this spunky 90-year-old lady who is the face of MAC cosmetics. Then, they went to a 72-year-old model being interviewed by Anne Curry. I was all for the "concept" but as this model, Valerie Ramsey, smiled through her bleached white teeth as she talked about how it's the power of confidence and a positive outlook that defines beauty, I couldn't help but notice her "botoxed" forehead (if you watch the video...click on the link below...you'll notice how it doesn't move...look at her neck...it's a dead giveaway). Even the psychologist they used in the piece, Vivian Diller, was botoxed.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/46745179#46745179

I'm not saying its the botox that's a problem, necessarily, it's about being disingenuous. And Anne Curry didn't even ask the question we were all thinking, "So, have you had any work done?" Below is my take, here in the middle....

The value of plastic surgery
I always thought of plastic surgery as a way to level the playing field and correct some of nature’s errors…think the pictures of kids wth cleft pallets. The whole point is to fix something that nature messed up so that person wouldn’t stand out--so people could see what was important—what was on the inside. Or, to correct injuries from an accident or a fire so the person would blend in and look “normal” again. Then there was plastic surgery for the movie stars---the hideous face lifts to defy aging.

Enter the 90s…boob jobs and Botox abound. 

I remember one friend telling me she was so flat that having breast implants was simply a way to make her look more “normal.” Hmmm…that fit my plastic surgery argument. She really was flat and her surgery took her to a full  B cup…we’re not talking Dolly Parton breasts. Then, another friend had her breast enhancement surgery…using the same argument except it was because her breasts didn’t match her frame...huh(?) She came out a D cup even though she attempted to stuff herself into C cup bras for at least two years to rationalize the size of her breasts.

I remember  giving my feminazi (that was my late husband’s endearing term he had for me that he ripped off from Rush LimbaughJ) speech about using our brains and it’s what’s on the inside that counts. I proceeded with a  discussion about  ruining the curve. “You are changing what normal looks like.”

Indeed, that’s what happened. I recall watching a rerun of the 70s hit Charlie’s Angels one night as we were flipping through channels. The three most beautiful and revered women of the 70s were on a yacht  wearing their bikinis.  I was mentioning to my children how this was a popular show when I was growing up and my son said, “They look really weird.” I explained  those were the hair styles back then but soon realized that’s not what he meant. They looked like boys wearing bikinis. Indeed, I realized they did look weird. The silicone and saline implants had ruined the curve.

Fast forward to the turn of the century. Botox, a drug originally used to treat patients who suffered from spinal torticollis, was found to have an appealing effect of “freezing” the forehead and removing wrinkles. As the baby boomers aged, they took the bait. Botox parties, a quick injection at the derm’s office. Whoala…10 years of wrinkles gone!  How vain. How sad for these women to be so fixated on their appearance and trying to recoup their lost youth that they would pay $600 and endure the pain of injections to their face!!! Ick.

My Botox Experience
Then a funny thing happened. I had agreed to be a mystery shopper at a plastic surgeon’s office. I thought I was going for a consult and was to evaluate the check-in process, information I was given, helpfulness and demeanor of the staff.  Just about an hour before my appointment, I found out from the person who had arranged the mystery shop that I was actually supposed to get the Botox injection AND filler for my Parentheses (those are the lines on each side of our mouth) and throw in a lip injection too, if you want.

I was horrified. But I’m a pretty committed type. The ball was in motion and the person arranging the  project was a close friend. This was her career and I felt I needed to follow through. I bypassed the lip injection but went ahead with Botox and the filler.

It was uncomfortable. I still shiver when I think of the shot going into my forehead and my face (it’s not normal to let a sharp object penetrate such sensitive skin for a non-medical reason). But here’s what happened.

All the sudden people started asking me if I had gotten a new hair cut. Had I started working out? Had I lost weight?  I noticed everyone was so nice to me.  It’s like that commercial for juvaderm…everyone will notice but no one will know.  I confided to two of my friends about the mystery shop after they commented on how I great I looked.

So, here I am stuck in the middle. Is cosmetic surgery for the vain and the shallow or is it just the new normal?

And don't get me started on the teeth bleaching!  I'll save that for later!