Cosmetic Surgery

Trisha Gura is a blogger on www.huffingtonpost.com. She posted this yesterday. They don't do it - because they've had enough. Some women in midlife are not coloring their hair, dieting religiously, and struggling to achieve unrealistic standards of physical beauty. While the statistics continue to startle us - $8.2 billion worth of beauty products sold in 2006, a $55.4 billion annual weight-loss industry, and 2.7 million women aged 51 to 64 who underwent cosmetic surgery in 2005 - there appears to be a subset within this demographic that is letting go of measuring self-worth based on appearances.

I DON'T KNOW many women who have always been satisfied with their breasts. Like Goldilocks, we usually find them too big or too small, rarely just right. Then age and gravity take their toll, only making things worse. No wonder then that in 2006, breast augmentation became the No. 1 cosmetic surgical procedure, up 13 percent in just a year, according to the American Society for Plastic Surgery. Still, I was taken aback by a recent study that claims to show that women have more self-esteem and sexual satisfaction after breast-enhancement surgery.

LET'S GET one thing straight: "change" is not the same thing as "reform. " So we can be swept away with the stunning deck-chair rearrangement in Harrisburg that outsted Speaker John Perzel (Buh-bye!) and elevated Dennis O'Brien to preside - as a Republican (hello??!!) - over a newly Democratic state House. That indeed is a sea change, and pondering its implications is a grand way to spend the first days of 2007. Especially: how fast and unexpectedly the mighty can fall. And how quickly legislative arrogance can be shown the door.

My jawline has dropped a wee bit, the skin under my chin sags a smidgen, and a wrinkle or two now reside on my face although I am still in my 30s. Mostly, I walk away from the mirror when I start to fixate on these flaws, and I focus on the present. My two boys usually want to know why I am staring at myself, and I don't really want to get into it with them anyway. Frequently, I flip past shows like Nip/Tuck, Dr. 90210, or the health documentaries on the Discovery Channel about cosmetic surgery.

Last week, doctors in France performed a history-making partial face transplant on a 38-year-old woman who'd lost her mouth, chin and nose after a dog attack. By midweek, American news media were all over the story, and by that evening, broadcasters were challenging each other to see how quickly they could segue from serious medical coverage to the more revenue-producing stuff of cosmetic surgery and celebrities. On CNN's The Situation Room, Wolf Blitzer joined The Cafferty File's Jack Cafferty in an odd little soft-shoe routine about what would happen if face transplants became the hottest new thing in elective cosmetic surgery.

Julius Newman, 76, of Gladwyne, a cosmetic surgeon who sculpted more than 20,000 noses in his 37-year career, died Sunday at home of complications from primary progressive aphasia, a neurological disorder. In 1965, Dr. Newman presented a paper to the College of Physicians in Philadelphia titled "Rhinoplastic Surgery for the Twisted Nose," in which he outlined a new technique for nose surgery. Several years later, he established his cosmetic-surgery practice on City Avenue in Wynnewood.

Sylvia Brickman was 88 years old when she decided to have a breast reduction. Her children were against it, but Brickman had gone from a 32A to a 38DD after having children. The operation that transformed her into a 36C was one of the best decisions she has ever made. "I didn't do it for anything other than comfort," Brickman said. "I just didn't like being black and blue from the bras and being so uncomfortable. " Doctors once resisted operating on seniors unless something was broken, blocked or bleeding.

Dawn Joslin's feet hurt so much last week that she wore sneakers to work for the first time. But there she was at lunchtime, despite corns, bunions and three major foot surgeries, sitting at Lord & Taylor's trying on high-heeled slingbacks. Would they hurt her feet? Yes. Would she wear them anyway? Of course. "I just like the look of them," says the 50-year-old comptroller. "I used to wear the stilettos, but gave those up in my 30s. No doctor has ever told me not to wear heels.

Unhappy with the results of cosmetic surgery, a Lancaster County man mailed the surgeon a bomb but then reported himself to police, according to an affidavit filed last week by a U.S. postal inspector. Blake Steidler, 23, of Reamstown, made a bomb using a 4-inch-square jewelry box, a carbon dioxide cartridge, and black gunpowder, which he sealed in a legal-size envelope, according to the affidavit filed by Yvette A. Thomas. Last Friday, Thomas stated, Steidler drove to Warren, Ohio, and dropped the package in a mailbox.

Claude Lewis is a longtime Philadelphia journalist More and more teens are turning to plastic surgery in this country. And that's sad. According to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, some 11,500 teens had their breasts augmented in 2003. That's three times the number of just a year earlier. Among people 18 and younger, breast augmentation trailed only nose jobs and cosmetic ear surgery as the most popular operation. It is sad that so many teenagers - children really - are undergoing breast implant surgery to bolster their self-images.