Review My Surgery Skillz on YouTube and Get One Free Botox Injection!

Did you hear? Doctors are now offering rebates on procedures for patients who post videos of their prior surgeries (supplied by the doctors, of course) and write glowing accounts of how happy they are with the results. I know we're a Consumer Reports/Amazon Book Reviews kinda culture, but this seems extreme.

First of all, are people actually shopping for surgeons on YouTube? Don't answer that. Every other ad on television and the worldwide interwebs is for some drug to make you happier, thinner, sleepier, etc., so I guess it makes sense that plastic surgeons are jumping on the advertising and viral marketing money train.

Sometimes I stay awake to watch The Golden Girls on Lifetime at 1 a.m. (yes, I know a second episode is on at 1:30, and sometimes I watch that one, too). Let me tell you, there are some super scary commercials that air in that time slot. Last night I was treated to the Ped Egg foot exfoliator ad, in which a parade of satisfied customers slough the nasty dead skin off their feet and dump the shavings into (Unlined! My eyes!) trash cans. But the one that really haunts my dreams is for a local plastic surgeon who offers financing for plastic surgery. "Bad credit or no credit? No problem! We'll still suck out your fat, and we'll charge you loan shark interest rates to boot!" Okay, I'm paraphrasing a little.

Maybe this is what was bound to happen as capitalism, medical advances, beauty obsessions, and a crappy health care system collide. But I really don't like the looks of it.

"Coming Soon to YouTube: My Facelift" New York Times

Medical Students Don't Want to Be Primary Care Doctors. The Money is in Botox and Eye Lifts.

Did you know that there's a shortage of family doctors in America? Today's top-tier medical students are fighting to get into the most competitive residencies: dermatology and plastic surgery. These fields offer the best hours and the biggest paychecks. Not surprisingly, they are attracting the most ambitious and successful students with the highest medical board scores.

“It is an unfortunate circumstance that you can spend an hour with a patient treating them for diabetes and hypertension and make $100, or you can do Botox and make $2,000 in the same time,” said Dr. Eric C. Parlette, 35, a dermatologist in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.

We're not saying that dermatology and plastic surgery aren't legitimate and valuable professions, but will anyone deny that the skyrocketing popularity of these fields is at least in part (and we'll argue that it's a big part) a reflection of how our culture values physical appearance over everything else? Those values are now evident in our health care system, which could certainly do with a makeover anyway. [New York Times]

"How Not to Look Old" is a Bestseller. Meanwhile, 16 People Die From Botox.

It's not such a shocker that How Not to Look Old by former Glamour beauty director Charla Krupp is a hit. Forget growing old gracefully. Ageism is a very real prejudice, and women are expected to fight tooth and nail to get rid of those gray hairs and beat back the wrinkles if they want to compete for jobs (including that title of President of the U.S. of A.) and be taken seriously in today's world.

“My book is hitting a nerve because I am giving not looking old a spin as if your life depended on it,” Ms. Krupp told The New York Times. Well, if Botox is part of your "not looking old" plan, that question of life and death is no laughing matter. Consumer advocacy group Public Citizen is now asking the FDA to include a strong warning with Botox after reviewing reports of 16 deaths related to injections. So our lives depend on looking young, but cosmetic procedures might kill us. Is it Friday yet?

"Nice Resume. Have You Considered Botox?"
"U.S. Group Seeks Botox Warning After 16 Death Reports."

Kanye West's Mother Dies as a Result of Cosmetic Surgery Complications

This news just breaks our hearts. Publicist Patricia Green has confirmed that Dr. Donda West, mother of Kanye West and and manager of the star's businesses and educational foundation, has died at the age of 58 after complications from a cosmetic surgery procedure.

Donda West was the author of Raising Kanye: Life Lessons from the Mother of a Hip-Hop Star. She had a 31-year career as an English professor, eventually chairing Chicago State University's English department before leaving academia in 2004 to help manage her son's career.

Ms. Green said: "May Donda's work and deeds be an inspiration to each of us, may we start each day knowing that support of family and community are central to purpose." [BBC] [Telegraph]

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in Dr. West's name to the Kanye West Foundation/Loop Dreams Teacher Training Institute.

Dove Launches "Reality Diaries" Series

As part of its Self-Esteem Fund, Dove has just released Reality Diaries, a six-week web series following four teen girls:

Sydney has a mom whose idea of bonding is a trip to the plastic surgeon's office for a mother/daughter neck lift and nose job.

Chelsea is a pageant girl who doesn't know much about herself except that she never feels pretty enough or thin enough.

Jordyn dates players, including one guy who told her he only likes girls with dark hair. So she dyed hers. She says she's always wearing a mask when she interacts with other people.

Irene is the only Asian girl in her school and she's starting to wake up to the fact that the "cute" names her classmates call her ("China," "Spicy Asian Won Ton") are actually pretty racist.

Reality television has long been built on the issues of young women with low self-esteem. From The Bachelor and The Real World to Rock of Love and The Hills, Americans are used to seeing weepy girls self-destruct and make terrible choices in front of the camera. The difference here is that the goal of Reality Diaries is to stop the girls from self-destructing and to give viewers (who will sadly but surely relate to these girls) the tools to get their self-esteem in check, too. Watch it and tell us what you think.

Related: Dove "Onslaught" Campaign

Tyra Touts Queen of Botox as "Body Image Expert"

On last week's episode of America's Next Top Model, Tyra sat the girls down for a serious talk about body image in the fashion industry. Not surprisingly, the discussion was one of Tyra's trademark mixed messages gab fests that basically amounted to, "Girls, even though you are all beautiful and I don't think you need to lose any weight, those other mean people in the business are going to tell you to get thinner and that makes me really mad. But you kinda have to do what they tell you. Just make sure you do it in a healthy way though, 'kay? And remember, I think you're beautiful."

To reinforce her point, Tyra introduced Dr. Laurie Polis, whom she described as "having a facility and an organization that deals with beauty from the inside out." What a coincidence. We have an organization that promotes beauty from the inside out, too! Except our organization doesn't perform chemical peels and collagen injections. See, Tyra didn't mention what facility Dr. Laurie Polis runs. Google helped us out with that. It's called SoHo Skin & Laser Dermatology (a.k.a. medspa to the stars. Dr. Polis does acupuncture in addition to cosmetic treatments, but we're guessing that's probably not the bread and butter of her business). Really, TyTy? Couldn't you have tracked down an expert who actually deals with, I don't know, body image? And how are your girls supposed to smile with their eyes if their faces are frozen from Botox?

New Moms and Moms-to-be are Depressed and Unhappy With Their Bodies

More and more evidence is pointing to the fact that pregnancy can be a heavy time--and not just in terms of pounds. Many pregnant women and new moms face depression, serious body image issues, and even disordered eating:

A study published in the October issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry reveals that 1 in 7 new mothers are identified as having depression during at least one phase of pregnancy--8.7%, 6.9%, and 10.4% of the women had a record of depression before, during, or after pregnancy. Since those numbers only reflect the reported cases, it's safe to assume the true numbers are much higher. [Medscape, sub required]

Women who regularly read tabloids are more likely to describe themselves as "fat" than those who do not follow celebrity culture, and feel heightened pressure to lose their baby weight quickly after delivery.

In a study published in Psychological Medicine, researchers at the University of North Carolina found that "eating for two" can be compulsive. Some women, who never had eating disorders before, develop binge eating disorders when they become pregnant. [Science Daily]

In the U.K., a study of 1,104 women showed that 2 percent developed an eating disorder while pregnant. [Telegraph]

And what's on the menu of solutions, support, and resources for women dealing with these issues? Well, it's slim pickins (by slim, we mean, "get that pre-baby body back quick, you fat ass!"). Here are a couple of options:

Post-pregnancy plastic surgery (which we wrote about here) is the hot new trend. Last year, doctors nationwide performed more than 325,000 “mommy makeover procedures” on women ages 20 to 39, up 11 percent from 2005. [New York Times]

Oh, and the authors of Skinny Bitch are hard at work on a new eating guide for pregnant women (Hmmm, will it be titled Hungry, Cranky Mommy Desperate to Gnaw on a Big Hunk of Cheese?). [MSNBC]

So for all you new moms, just stay focused on losing that baby weight. Let's hope you don't lose your minds in the process.

*All joking aside, please call the National Eating Disorders Association at 1-800-931-2237 if you need information or referrals.

Photo credit: Misty Woodward

Related:
Extreme Mommy Makeovers
Baby Bumps and Skinny Jeans

Extreme Mommy Makeovers

So much for cocoa butter and stomach crunches. Now mommies who are dissatisfied with their post-baby bodies can pay a visit to their plastic surgeon, who, in Extra correspondent Dayna Devon's case, also happens to be her husband. Hey, he's loving his wife for who she is on the inside (literally) while making a few adjustments to what she looks like on the outside. Not many guys can claim that feat.

It seems that plastic surgery is fast becoming the hot new postpartum trend. “When I first started [my] program three years ago, I’d see two to three patients a month and now I see five to six patients a week,” says Dr. Mark Schusterman, founder of the aptly named Makeovers for Moms program at Houston's Aesthetic Plastic Surgery Center. He offers package deals on tummy tucks, breast lifts and laser surgeries for new moms.

On top of the astronomical costs (hopefully women aren't choosing new boobs over college funds) and health risks of these procedures, there's also the question of how much time these patients are giving their bodies to "bounce back" after giving birth before they sign up for surgery. Is our celebrity mom watch culture stirring up an unnecessary and accelerated panic? When women compare their new mom bodies to the airbrushed, overexercised, and yes, nipped and tucked images on every newsstand and gossip blog, is it any wonder more and more moms are rushing to go under the knife? [MSNBC]

Nip, Tuck, and WTF?

Since we are fans of the roundup over here, we've got a new one for you. It's been a busy summer for the Dr. 90210s of the world. Check out the latest and greatest in plastic surgery news:

A new study reveals that British women are more likely than American women to have plastic surgery to please their partners. "One British 39-year-old barmaid told me that her husband's criticism of her figure prompted her to have abdomniplasty [a 'tummy tuck']," said researcher Debra Gimlin. "She said it wouldn't have entered her mind otherwise, but after she'd had her second child her husband said: 'I love the wee ones but I wish having them hadn't ruined your figure.'" Has this guy picked up his Husband of the Year Award yet? [Guardian]

Plastic surgeons heart Extreme Makeover. In a study conducted by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, 4 out of 5 people reported that television directly influenced them to pursue a cosmetic surgery procedure. [American Society of Plastic Surgeons]

Eyelash transplants? For $6,000 you can get yourself a new pair, but you'll have to trim them regularly to avoid a Rapunzel effect. This procedure was originally developed for trauma patients. Surprise, surprise: the ladies love it, too. Has Penelope Cruz scheduled hers yet? [CBS News] via [Jezebel]

Want Botox? No problem. Want to get checked out for skin cancer? You might want to get in line. A typical wait for a Botox treatment is just eight days. But if you need a doc to examine a mole, you'll have to wait 26. “The difference in wait times between medical dermatology and cosmetic dermatology patients is clearly real,” said Dr. Jack S. Resneck Jr., assistant professor of dermatology at the medical school of the University of California, San Francisco. “We need to look further and figure out what is leading to shorter wait times for cosmetic patients.” Yes, please do. In the meantime, we'll be wearing our sun hats and SPF. [NY Times]

When she was just 12 years old, Brooke Bates got liposuction and a tummy tuck. She gained the weight back. This year, her parents allowed her to get lap band surgery. They couldn't find a doctor in the U.S. who would perform the surgery on a 13-year-old, so the family took a trip down to Mexico. After the first procedures, which cost $25,000, Brooke said she "went from the big, fat girl to the popular girl. Then I gained weight back and it was depressing. But now that I had the lap band done, everything is just working out great." We know that girls face intense pressures to be thin and fit in, but we wish the adults in Brooke's life would help her to understand that plastic surgery is not the magic ticket to confidence and happiness. [ABC News]