Since when did having a baby become an "ugly" thing? And what about pregnancy itself? More and more celebrities are having their tales of pregnancy woe told, and the average mother may be buying it, and are beginning to see their bodies in the same light. Adding to this is the deluge of gossip magazines that show all these celebrities showing off their post-pregnancy bodies as if they've never given birth. What comes along with the articles on these women is how they did it in the first place. What they skirt over are the facts that these women can afford to hire expensive trainers, personal chefs, and the room for a pretty extensive personal gym, , and the way it makes the average woman reading about the women, their new babies, and their new looks feel. However, there may be a backlash forming against all of the media-savvy spin.

Mockery vs. Envy

While most of us mock what we see in magazines that focus solely on celebrity gossip, we spend an inordinate amount of time focusing on them ourselves. Perhaps the media helps us form the narrative, but isn't up to us, a supposedly intelligent and independent public, to figure out just what it is we care about? And if this is how celebrities manage to look so stunning after pregnancy, what does that say about us? After all, there are a lot of other things to worry about right now. Most people agree with this. Still, the rise of tell-all fluff pieces about celebrity mothers who work out every day, get more sleep than the average mother, and generally see pregnancy as simply something to get through before their next red carpet appearance has had real life consequences. Hundreds of new mothers a year are going through postpartum depression, and allegedly being inundated with news about thin celebrity mothers just adds to these feelings.

For example, Heidi Klum showed up on the catwalk two months after giving birth to her son, and Nicole Richie and Christina Aguilera both discussed in Us Weekly how they lost all their baby weight. Sure, they don't need to worry too much about paying for the hospital bills, affordable day care, and the sheer exhaustion that comes with all those nightly feedings, but, jeez, aren't they impressive? Again, not really. Health experts and doctors point out that exercising too soon after pregnancy, and not putting on the amount of weight you should when you're pregnant is a very bad idea, both for you and your baby.

Whatever the reasons, Dr. Laura Riley at Massachusetts General Hospital says that all that weight you put on will eventually come off after four to six months. Pushing it to two months is not only going to be taxing on you, your child, and the poor father of the kid, but you're going to wind up feeling extremely disappointed in yourself if you don't reach your unrealistic goal. "It took you nine months to put it on," says Dr. Riley. "It's not going to come off in nine weeks."

Answer

If you're about to give birth, or just have, and you're still unhappy and your favorite celebrity is making you feel worse with each passing month, perhaps you should consider a mommy makeover. When diet and exercise don't help, cosmetic surgery is always there for you to get back to that body you used to have in those heady days when Britney was on top of the world. And you wouldn't be alone. More women are choosing mommy makeovers than ever before. It's not the easiest thing you could do, but an experienced cosmetic surgeon would be happy to answer any questions you have, including how you can look like Jessica Alba after she gave birth.

Yet, there are plenty of women who funnel their anger and frustration at the overexposure of celebrity mothers into nice long walks. And they bring the kid, too.

Some women worry about wrinkles, their breasts, and fat. Others worry about the way their vagina looks. As a result, these women go to cosmetic surgeons looking for "designer vaginas." However, according to the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians, these procedures injure and scar patients. Female sexual health specialists have seen an increase in the number of women who wind up with infections, have altered sexual sensation or are scarred by this procedure. The college also feels that it "exploit[s] vulnerable women" and that many of the seekers of such procedures may need psychological help.

What it is

There are three kinds of procedures that fall under the colloquialism "designer vagina." First, there is labiaplasty. This procedure is done to correct "problems" with large or asymmetric labia. Vaginoplasty is performed to tighten or "rejuvenate" the vagina, and is performed to help women who may have had multiple childbirths. The hope is by tightening the vagina, sensitivity will return, thus increasing sexual pleasure. If this doesn't help, there's always hoodectomy, or clitoral unhooding. This is aimed at specifically enhancing the sexual function. A subset of this is G-spot augmentation, which is where collagen is injected into the wall of the vagina.

Is Knowledge Power?

So, there you have it. Like they always said on G.I. Joe, "Knowing is half the battle." And this may be part of the problem for those Down Under. One of the concerns is that women seeking this procedure don't seem to grasp that there is a huge degree of variation in how the external genitalia looks. It seems that some of these women assume that because their boyfriends and husbands look at porn, then that's the way they're supposed to look – or men who assume that this is the way their partners are supposed to look. Dr. Ted Weaver, chairman of the college's women's health committee, uses one example of this, staging, "In one case we heard of a man bringing in a Brazilian pornographic photo and saying: 'Make my girlfriend look like this.'" And finally, there is a debate on if the G-spot is real, if all women even have it, and if so, exactly where it is. Women simply going in for collagen injections aren't necessarily going to help in this department.

The result is that women who are injured by this procedure may require reconstructive surgery, which obviously defeats the purpose. However, a vast majority of the women who undergo this procedure seem to be very happy with the end result. What it comes down to is the level of education women seeking this procedure have, as well as the skill of the cosmetic surgeon. One thing they might want to tell their patients is that when they need to expect realistic results that means don't expect to look like Jenna Jamison, as well as keep in mind that all those glossy photos they see are airbrushed.

Anyway, if you are interested in finding out more about this procedure, please contact an experienced cosmetic surgeon in your area.

Dr. Frederick Lukash, a New York cosmetic surgeon, is having trouble finding a publisher for his book called The Kindest Cut - Teenage Plastic Surgery: Reshaping the Body and Soul. It's basically what the title says it is. However, the reason the book is having so much trouble finding a publisher is that the subject of teens and cosmetic surgery is still too controversial. Lukash claims this kind of surgery is "quality of life surgery." And maybe he should know; he has specialized in treating adolescents for over 20 years.

We've already delved into teens and cosmetic surgery a couple times here, but one interesting thing Lukash says is that, with teens, it isn't so much about standing out, like the many adults who decide on cosmetic surgery. It's about fitting in.

He uses the example of a 14-year-old girl who had drooping breasts like a 60-year-old woman. She wouldn't participate in PE, go into the shower, or go to camp. But what she did do was start acting out and develop an eating disorder. Many cosmetic surgeons will not perform surgeries on girls as young as 14. They most likely still have a ways to go before they fully develop and an overwhelming majority are not emotionally mature. But tell that to a 14-year-old girl who feels ostracized by peers, can't stand the sight of her own body, and looks at other 14-year-olds "blossoming" as they should and wonders why she isn't. Lukash performed a breast lift on her, and her eating disorder vanished.

Opposition

To add to those who have reservations, some, like psychologist Ann Kearney-Cooke, don't believe that cosmetic surgery should be used as a fix to low self-esteem. She says, "Instead of rushing to the plastic surgeon, let's help these kids develop skill so they can be effective at handling these situations...." Lukash counters by saying he doesn't perform procedures on every single unhappy child that walks into his office. He admits it's not a quick fix to all their problems. He also has consultations with parents and therapists, and often tells the patient they are too young or should talk to a psychologist.

One thing Kearny-Cooke says is that, though kids have always had pressure to fit in, the "focus has switched to appearance and image making." For those of us who were kids in MTV's heyday, we respectfully disagree. It didn't just happen, and appearance and image making have been a part of growing up for decades now.

Many of those who were kids in the early to mid-'80s were picked on mercilessly for their appearance. The difference now is that cosmetic surgery is much more accessible in ways that it wasn't at that time. Had cosmetic surgery had the exposure that it does these days, otoplasty, male breast reduction, and breast augmentation may have become known vocabulary in the American lexicon long before now.

If you have a child who is suffering because of their physical appearance, speak with doctors and therapists to see what can or should be done. If you are interested in finding out more about how cosmetic surgery may help them, please contact an experienced cosmetic surgeon in your area.

While we're led to believe that people are lining up for cosmetic surgery across the world, the fact is that the percentage is still small. Celebrity fascination comes with the obligatory "did they or didn't they" question, answered by a panel of media savvy cosmetic surgeons who give their expert opinion. Maybe because it's so in our face (pun intended) that it seems like everyone and, quite literally, their mother is going under the knife. However, one of the implied numbers in those who track cosmetic surgical procedures by groups like the ASPS, is those of people who are going back in for a second or third surgery. Some procedures may require an additional surgery, such as liposuction or abdominoplasty. Some are supposed to be a one-time thing. Like rhinoplasty.

With the growing number of cosmetic surgeons and their patients come unintended consequences of a market with serious potential. Because people want these procedures, but may not have the money to go to someone reputable, they will seek out whomever can do it on the cheap. Life-long injury and death are oftentimes part of this saga. What is required in this case is an additional visit to the very cosmetic surgeon they should have gone to in the first place who then has to correct mistakes. Because of this, one of the procedures we may hear more of is "revision rhinoplasty." This is performed on patients who have had previous rhinoplasty jobs that were either botched or because the patient injured his or her self during the healing period. Many times the patient is simply unhappy with the results. Aesthetic appeal is one thing, but what about nasal function? Sometimes breathing can become difficult after receiving a rhinoplasty. Sometimes scar tissue builds up after a rhinoplasty and this needs to be fixed.

Rhinoplasty can be a difficult procedure to begin with, but a revision rhinoplasty is even harder on both cosmetic surgeon and patient. This is because a graft may be needed to correct the problem, and the graft needs to come from another part of the body, such as rib or ear cartilage, and even tissue from the scalp.

Restructuring the cartilage of the nose can be done if there is a "bump" in the nose. However, if there is a lack, or depression of tissue, then this cartilage must be obtained from somewhere else on the body. If there are problems with the tip of the nose where it looks collapsed or "pinched," then it is almost better to have something called "reverse rhinoplasty." In this case the cartilage is brought back to its original position, and contoured for aesthetics and functionality.

Technology

Even if people want to correct their rhinoplasty, they may not want to get further surgery. Minor imperfections can be fixed with injectable fillers like Radiesse or Restylane. Of course, these imperfections will need to be retouched every year or so as the filler's usefulness diminishes. One of the newer techniques used by some cosmetic surgeons is the use of saline injections. Again, this is used for those who wish to correct minor imperfections.

Because a revision rhinoplasty is done to correct or fix problems, the expectations of how the nose might look are diminished a bit. Moving cartilage and tissue around can only be done so much before you begin to look like Michael Jackson. (Side note: Don't expect a cosmetic surgeon to automatically give you another rhinoplasty if you've had more than one already. Psychological issues are looked at closely by reputable cosmetic surgeons.)

Unfortunately, a small percentage of rhinoplasty recipients will need further surgery no matter who their cosmetic surgeon is. Healing takes time, and there are those a little too eager to show off their new nose before its ready. Bumping the nose while it is healing is not uncommon. But there are those where the healing just isn't going well. Having their noses looked after again is almost a foregone conclusion.

If you have gone overseas or stayed stateside and visited a cosmetic surgeon who made things worse by damaging your nose, you might want to consider revision rhinoplasty. Do your homework and be honest about why you feel you need another rhinoplasty. If you would like more information about this procedure, please contact an experienced cosmetic surgeon in your area.

Due to the proliferation of websites that promote anorexia and bulimia, French legislators have proposed a bill that will punish magazines or websites with three years in prison and over $70,000 in fines if they continue to show the benefits of the disorders. Since 2000, over 400 sites promoting "ana" and "mia" have been identified. These sites offer tips on bingeing, crash dieting, vomiting, and hiding weight loss from parents, many of whom are already concerned about their children.

Sponsored by Valerie Boyer, a conservative, the measure was also backed by Roselyne Bachelot, France's health minister. Measures of this caliber have been proposed since Brazilian model, Ana Carolina Reston, died of anorexia in 2006. However, this is the one of the more strongly worded measures to come before the lower house of Parliament. The bill makes illegal to "provoke a person to seek excessive weight loss by encouraging prolonged nutritional deprivation that would have the effect of exposing them to risk of death or endangering health."

Blame

Ms. Boyer blamed the "sociocultural and media environment" for favoring anorexic and bulimic behavior, and believes it necessary to act. This was criticized by the French Federation of Couture. Federation president, Didier Grumbach, states, "Never will we accept in our profession that a judge decides if a young girl is skinny or not skinny….That doesn't exist in the world, and it will certainly not exist in France." The French Socialist Party has also complained that the bill, which they believe is vaguely worded, was rushed through the lower house by President Nicolas Sarkozy's political party, the U.M.P.

Two Cents

While it is certainly a personal choice on how much weight one wants to lose, promoting anorexia and bulimia as a lifestyle seems at least misguided, and at most, possibly criminal. Society seems to already be reeling with the fact that so many young people are seeking cosmetic surgery, and this is obviously taking the urge to look "perfect" in a horrible new direction. If you have ever known anyone who has suffered anorexia or bulimia, then you know it isn't something to be promoted. It's an illness, and those with it need professional medical care. More often than not, those who suffer with these illnesses wish they could stop after they've done it for a while.

Teenage girls are more likely to succumb to the temptation to binge or starve in an effort to be as thin as waifish fashion models, just as they are more likely to seek out cosmetic surgeons. However, breast implants on an anorexic or bulimic frame 1) would look really bad, and 2) would never happen since your health is evaluated before having any type of cosmetic procedure. You can't have it both ways.

Perhaps the French could take a page from American cosmetic surgically crazed kids and go under the knife rather than starve themselves in private. After all, the end result is the hope to be seen in a positive light. And no one likes it when someone smells like vomit.

If you are interested in cosmetic surgery, please contact an experienced cosmetic surgeon in your area.

First they came for the tattooing. Then they came for the body-piercing. Now, Queensland, Australia's authorities are pressing for a ban on giving teens' access to cosmetic surgery. While the bans on tattoos and body-piercing have been around for a while, there is no law against letting teens get cosmetic surgery. Included in this ban are breast enhancement, tummy tuck and Botox injections.

Premier Anna Bligh believes that there are some good reasons, both medically and psychologically, why young girls seek out these procedures, but worries about kids looking to them for pure, unadulterated vanity. Getting corrective surgery is one thing, but there is apparently no good reason why any Young Turk should be able to alter their appearance through cosmetic enhancement.

Freedom of Choice

While it isn't much of a stretch to say that many young women believe their appearance is of the utmost importance, and having access to cosmetic surgery gives them a wider range of options of ways to stand out, authorities believe these girls are too immature to make this kind of a decision. Getting breast enhancing surgery to impress the boys is a bad idea when you're 15. The thing is, most cosmetic surgeons would agree with this.

While the law in the States lets some people as young as 14 get cosmetic surgery, this is done for corrective reasons. It's the kids going off to college where the line is blurred between corrective and elective surgery. This is the time when society often allows these burgeoning adults more freedom to make their own decisions. Yet, impressing the boys when you're 18 or 19 is much different than impressing them when you're still asking your parents for a ride to the mall.

Vanity plays a role in any teenager's life, both male and female. In our hyper-sexualized, 24/7 media cycle, looks seem to be de rigueur on how to get ahead or get what you want. And kids want it all without the wait. No matter how often they're told by their parents to wait a few years to see if they still want something, the children are going to see this as an assault on their personal life. Sometimes the child might wait and change their mind. However, there are some parents who both get sick of the whining and the anger, and simply give in. "You want a boob job? Let me just grab my checkbook."

Maybe the question should really be who are the parents who want their children to get a tummy tuck at such a young age? Is it just up to the kids? Or is it up to the government to make these decisions for both child and parent?

If you are interested in cosmetic surgery, please contact an experienced cosmetic surgeon in your area.

It's been said that repeat customers are the bedrock of a successfully run business. You get them in, and you get them to come back – again and again if you can. This works pretty well with retail companies and some restaurants. But what about cosmetic surgery? There are estimates that put the number of people returning for further cosmetic procedures after their first at around 33%. What is unclear is how many of these people are coming back in for Botox or other injectable fillers, which need to be redone if you want to keep the look, and how many of them are coming in for a nose job, then breast augmentation, and then a tummy tuck.

When we think about the types of people who are the best customers cosmetic surgeons can have, we automatically think of movies stars. And many of them have had numerous procedures done. This seems to be par for the course if you're a movie star. You might also know of a few "normal" people who like what their surgeon did with their eyelids and now want that doctor to work on two or three other places on their body.

Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD)

When people hear the old platitudes that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, or that beauty is only skin deep, many take it to heart. However, there are some whose eyes see a skewed perspective of what is beautiful about their self, and it's often only the skin they can imagine, and they are the only beholder of that beauty.

BDD is a mental disorder is a mental condition where individuals are excessively preoccupied with how their body looks. The physical imperfections they find may be real, to an extent, but are often imagined. And they imagine that they look awful all the time. No matter how often people with BDD are reassured that they look fine they'll just find something else wrong.

Having BDD in today's culture can't be easy. Everywhere we look there are pictures of beautiful people in television and magazine ads, or in the movies. Or perhaps culture helps to perpetuate and drive the number of people with BDD up.

It's been noted time and again that the number of people getting cosmetic surgery has gone up dramatically. We hear stories of young people getting breast or cheek augmentation because they want to look like the stars. However, how do we know when one person's desire for rhinoplasty is just another procedure in a laundry list of things they want to get done? Furthermore, how do we know their nose job is the only one they're going to get? When do the cosmetic surgeons step in and say enough is enough?

Why Worry?

We've noted here that it is important to be in the right frame of mind when going in for cosmetic surgery. We've also noted that it is an individual choice. However, there are a small number of people who believe that cosmetic surgery is the only way to true happiness. They believe that their lives will be so much better after they get their eyes done or their chin augmented. But maybe these people have a problem. Because what we're seeing is these people are just the latest casualties of either a) societal pressure to look good, or b) a new thing to be addicted to, much like drugs (though, obviously, not exactly), or perhaps both. And many people have come out of the procedure with a feeling of buyer's remorse.

The Most Visual Examples

Look for botched, or excessive, cosmetic surgery on the Internet, and you'll find a number of websites that have a page on "the worst." These examples are never of our neighbors and friends, but of some pretty famous people. And the most popular bad examples are Joan Rivers, Michael Jackson, and the infamous "cat woman," Jocelyn Wildenstein. These people haven't just had one botched surgery that the media focuses on; these people have had more surgeries than we can count. It might be understandable if some people feel a sense of schadenfreude when looking at how horrible some stars behave and look, but it must be remembered that there is possibly an underlying illness they have. One might question why they keep going in for the surgery, but another question might be, who performs these surgeries know full well there might be a problem? We'll save that for another day.

Until then, if you would like to know how cosmetic surgery can help to enhance one or more areas of your body to improve the way you look, please contact an experienced cosmetic surgeon in your area. Also, remember that responsibility regarding this decision belongs to you.

Fury over the story of a five-year-old with Down's Syndrome who had several cosmetic surgical procedures to appear "normal" is gaining traction. The family of Georgia Bussey lives in the UK. Her parents have allowed three cosmetic surgeries to be performed on Georgia over her brief life. Critics have called this "radical and painful," child abuse, and more. The Bussey's have responded by claiming the cosmetic surgeries were performed so she can "fit in" with her peers.

Procedures performed

• Reducing her tongue to keep it from protruding
  
• Removing skin from the inner corners of her eyes,
  
• Ear surgery to keep them from sticking out
  

Her mother, Kim, says, "Society is not going to change overnight – so Georgia has to fit into society, rather than society fitting into the way she is." Now, that's parenting.

Another Case on the Horizon

Laurence and Chelsea Kirwan are considering cosmetic surgery for their two-year-old daughter, Ophelia, who also has Down's Syndrome. Laurence Kirwan is a cosmetic surgeon, and Chelsea Kirwan has gone through cosmetic surgery herself. They believe that changing their daughter's appearance will help her be accepted.

At the heart of both of these cases is that society judges individuals based on looks. It's true that many people go through to raise their esteem, and it's true that many people in society judge others based solely on appearance. As evidenced by the rise in numbers of cosmetic surgery patients, are too many people buying into this outlook?

Most Cosmetic Surgeons Take an Ethical View

A majority of cosmetic surgeons will encourage people to do this for themselves, and not for others. While some young people do have ear surgery, breast reduction surgery, and rhinoplasty, they have thought about it and (hopefully) talked it through with their parents. There are also cosmetic surgeons who won't see anyone under certain ages, either because the procedures seem to be the parents' idea, or because the teenager may "grow into" whatever area they think is imperfect.

We can't say the same for these two young girls with Down's Syndrome. Even if they could speak beyond their years, they still suffer from a condition that no amount of cosmetic surgery will take away. They still have Down's Syndrome on the inside.

If you are considering cosmetic surgery for your young child, please contact an experienced cosmetic surgeon who has done procedures on young people. He or she will answer any question you might have on this issue.