Plastic Surgery Is on the Rise Among Older Americans (spouse, inherit, graduate)

[Ol' Wanderer]

Originally Posted by imcurious

For me, personally (and as a member of a society whose values I wish I could relate to), there is very much something "wrong" with trying to "create happiness with the means one has,"

Unfortunately, unless it's intangible -- the beauty of the sunset, the sound of bird calls, the harmonious time spending with loved ones -- everything in our society comes with a price tag, including the vehicles that take us on the path to happiness.

Originally Posted by imcurious

I resent that the popular culture has dictated that there is nothing "wrong" with this - that anything that money can buy SHOULD be bought . . .it is so superficial and materialistic

There is nothing superficial and materialistic about paying for great education. Many of us do, with debts as consequence.

There is nothing superficial and materialistic about finding an ideal place to call home. Many of us do, and spend a lifetime scrimping to pay the mortgage.

There is nothing superficial and materialistic about exhausting one's saving to travel across the world and fight obstacles to bring a loved one to freedom. Many of us do, with financial and emotion burden as consequence.

We all use the means we have to create our happiness, and all comes with a price tag, some higher and more defined than others.

Originally Posted by imcurious

"create happiness with the means one has," IF it includes maiming/mangling/cutting/defacing the body. I believe it is an ill-informed attempt to defy death...

Sky diving, mountain climbing, freeskiing, BASE jumping, whitewater boarding are all dangerous sports. They all involve some degree (or the possibility) of maiming/mangling/defacing the body. Are they ill-informed attempt to defy death? The professional athletes who participate in the sports go through extensive physical training and mental conditioning to prepare for the adventures. A lot of science is involved to calculate the risk and predict the outcome. Crazy? Sure. Ill informed? Not.

Not all plastic surgery involves maiming the body, or all plastic surgery involves maiming the body, it all depends on one's definition of maiming. I am a good cook and but I am also a klutz in the kitchen. I cannot count the number of times I "maimed" myself with cuts and burns to cook a meal for my family.

Plastic surgeons are physicians who went through extensive training and certified by the medical examining board before they were allowed to practice. Their reputation and their livelihood depend on their performance. There are some who would go along with the client's wishes no matter how bizarre the outcome, but many are ethical professionals who know what they are doing and where to draw the line. Ill informed? Not.

I agree with anifani on both the preferred non-invasive procedures and the need for extensive research and consideration when a surgeon is needed. I also agree that not all plastic surgery serves as a vehicle to search for the fountain of youth. Some procedures are needed to remove the unpleasant feeling of self-consciousness and install confidence -- chin augmentation and chemical peel are two of the most asked for procedures from people who spend their lives disliking the reflection they see from the mirror each morning. Those people could spend months on a sofa with a psychotherapist to learn that the way they look is OK, or go to a plastic surgeon to actually see that the way they look afterward is better than OK. More powerful tool to boost confidence is harder to find.

Originally Posted by imcurious

I resent it because the entire culture is so morally bankrupt, shallow and superficial . . .and each individual's actions are buying into this.

I have my resentment towards many things that happen in our society as well, though not plastic surgery, which is a personal decision and does not affect the welfare of the mass that includes me. I guess we all have to live with our disappointment.

Originally Posted by imcurious

It sort of goes along with the Occupy Wall Street protests of such an immoral culture, from my perspective. I see plastic surgery as not only personally ill-informed, but politically significant, as well.

I will leave this comment alone, for I do not discuss politic on a social media.

[Ulysses61]

I've never met anyone who has had plastic surgery that has improved their looks. I live in Southern California, where even "average people" have extensive work done after 40. So I am surrounded by people who have had plastic surgery. People who have been facelifted actually look OLDER to me and so plastic it's unpleasant to look at them. They have that perpetually frozen expression.

[Sagitarrius48]

Originally Posted by Ulysses61

I've never met anyone who has had plastic surgery that has improved their looks. I live in Southern California, where even "average people" have extensive work done after 40. So I am surrounded by people who have had plastic surgery. People who have been facelifted actually look OLDER to me and so plastic it's unpleasant to look at them. They have that perpetually frozen expression.

?????? Unless they have had multiple lifts or a bad one followed by botox, there is no way they all look frozen in expression. My bet is that there are WAY more than you think, but really cannot tell!!

[Sagitarrius48]

Originally Posted by imcurious

For me, personally (and as a member of a society whose values I wish I could relate to), there is very much something "wrong" with trying to "create happiness with the means one has," IF it includes maiming/mangling/cutting/defacing the body . . .I believe it is an ill-informed attempt to defy death and I resent that the popular culture has dictated that there is nothing "wrong" with this - that anything that money can buy SHOULD be bought . . .it is so superficial and materialistic . . . I resent it because the entire culture is so morally bankrupt, shallow and superficial . . .and each individual's actions are buying into this.

It sort of goes along with the Occupy Wall Street protests of such an immoral culture, from my perspective. I see plastic surgery as not only personally ill-informed, but politically significant, as well.

Wow...this is very harsh and definitely heavily opinionated and judgmental. I will just echo what Ol Wanderer had said in his reply as I second every word he has written, but will also add that only I can make myself happy, and if I decide I want my outside match my inside, it is no one else's business but my own.

[brokensky]

Originally Posted by Ulysses61

I've never met anyone who has had plastic surgery that has improved their looks. I live in Southern California, where even "average people" have extensive work done after 40. So I am surrounded by people who have had plastic surgery. People who have been facelifted actually look OLDER to me and so plastic it's unpleasant to look at them. They have that perpetually frozen expression.

I would just throw this into the mix for contemplation . . .

Folks who have undergone masterfully rendered cosmetic surgery are not folks who look as tho they have had surgery.

If you meet people and can immediately tell they have had "work" done . . . then someone's surgeon either wasn't as skilled as he/she should have been, or the surgery had complications . . . or perhaps they have had too many surgeries . . .

It is kinda like the "perfect murder." Folks like to say - "there is no such thing as a perfect murder" and I always have to smile . . . cause the "perfect murders" were never considered as murders - so, indeed, the murderer DID get away with it!!! Same for well-done cosmetic surgery: no one even suspects surgery - cause it was rendered so beautifully.

Not talking about "frozen faces" from botox . . . or "duck lips" from implants . . . or humongous boobs that stand up like grapefruits on a table when a women reclines on a chaise at the pool . . . we are talking about rhinoplasty, chin implants, blepharoplasty . . . and when done correctly, these surgeries can not only make a person feel better about him/herself, but in some cases - actually breathe or see better.

You should never be able to "tell" that someone has had surgery sometime in the past when you meet them. If you can tell . . . someone either had a lousy physician or went overboard w/ the changes.

[Wilson513]

Originally Posted by Sagitarrius48

Besides STUPID being a weird adjective to use, I disagree totally, for if the person still FEELS like he/she is 55, then there is nothing wrong with the outside matching the inside! Not everyone "falls apart" when that magic number of 65 is hit! And to be honest, I think some people may just be jealous of the fact that the person is able to "knock off" a few years.

BUT with that said....being 65 and trying to look 35 would be another matter!

Originally Posted by Ol' Wanderer

I don't know about stupidity, but I was in awed when I saw my sister after her second plastic surgery, looking like a woman in her early 50s when in fact, she was in her mid 60s. The surgery only made her beautiful on the surface, but the sincere praises from loved ones and the admiration from strangers gave her the vibrant glow that seemed somehow to come from the contentment within. Her happiness was contagious, I was grinning from ear to ear watching her floating like a fairy.

Plastic surgery is still not my thing, but there is nothing wrong with creating happiness with the means one has. We all do the same thing to find happiness, some by traveling and pursuing hobbies, others by paying off the mortgage and padding the nest egg, still others by involving in intellectual and cultural goals. Everything we do is to make ourselves happy, so why deriding someone's wish to look young and beautiful? Who are we to inflict our standards on others?

Well, its stupid because every bit of plastic surgery that changes your apppearance comes with both risk and cost. First, any surgery is dangerous as can be. More dangerous that skydiving, Alpine skiing, drag racing on the street, experimenting with drugs. The "bad result" "adverse outcome" numbers should scare you. Estimates are as high as 30% of surgery patients have some problem as a direct consequence of the surgery.

Then, wait a few years. Are you going to do it again? You had better do so or get a ski mask because an old surgery is a lot worse looking than an old face, boob or buttock.

And, in the final analysis, no one cares if your sister look 55 instead of 60. She's still an old lady, she is not in the game anyway, and the only satisfaction she gets is looking better than her younger sibling. And is that an altruistic motive?

[Ol' Wanderer]

Originally Posted by Wilson513

More dangerous that skydiving, Alpine skiing, drag racing on the street, experimenting with drugs. The "bad result" "adverse outcome" numbers should scare you. Estimates are as high as 30% of surgery patients have some problem as a direct consequence of the surgery.

"More dangerous that skydiving, Alpine skiing, drag racing on the street, experimenting with drugs," eh? I wonder why it is not banned, especially when it's against the law to "drag racing on the street and experimenting with drugs."

However, I'm not going to get into a dispute when there is no concrete data to back up the arguments. I'm just thinking, if 30% of surgery (is that just plastic surgery or all surgeries?) have "some problem as a direct consequence of the surgery", then there should have been millions of people on the streets of our nation looking like Michael Jackson, Carrot Top, Phyllis Diller, Joan Rivers, etc. A live Rocky Horror Show on the streets of America, how do you like them apples?

According to Wiki, 23 millions people used cosmetic surgery in just the two years of 2006 and 2007 alone. That's the total in the States, not counting the number of people who went to other countries for the work. But even 30% of 23 millions would amount to about seven millions people with problems, now, would it?

Originally Posted by Wilson513

Then, wait a few years. Are you going to do it again? You had better do so or get a ski mask because an old surgery is a lot worse looking than an old face, boob or buttock.

Why would that be your business? Are you planning to check out all the "old face, boob or buttock" to find out if they were the result of non-followed-up surgery instead of natural victims of Mother Nature?

Originally Posted by Wilson513

And, in the final analysis, no one cares if your sister look 55 instead of 60. She's still an old lady, she is not in the game anyway, and the only satisfaction she gets is looking better than her younger sibling. And is that an altruistic motive?

My sister does not care if no one cares. She cares, and that's enough.

At this point in her life, she is the only person she needs to please. She was married for 40 years during which she and her husband raised 6 children, saw all 6 graduated from universities, and had them all married. She worked full time (sometimes two jobs) for 25 of those 40 years to help support the family, then nursed her husband through a stroke, and buried him a few years later. Now she is free to enjoy her life as a woman, not an old lady.

What made you say, "She is not in the game anyway"? Is "the game" an insinuation about the physical aspect of her relationship with other people? If so, you should be ashamed of yourself for degrading someone whom you have never met, about whom you know nothing, and who has never done one wrong act toward you.

Do you know my sister personally? Had she told you something she didn't tell me, that's why you said, "The only satisfaction she gets is looking better than her younger sibling."?

Well, you know what, my sister and I do not live in the same state. In fact, there are 2700 miles between us. We do not appear in public together, we do not have family reunions to sit next to one another for comparison. We do not go shopping together. Her taste runs toward gowns and pashmina shawls; mine is classic black trousers and white long sleeve shirts.

She is a published author; I am a traveller. She has her photos on the back cover of her books; I have my photos in my external hard drive.

She has book signings and local TV appearances; I take pleasure in walking daily with my husband while wearing shorts and tank tops.

We have nothing to compete against each other. In fact, for many years in my life, she acted in the role of my mother, and since she became a widow and I, "an old lady", we always have each other's back. There is no competition between us, sorry.


Your attack on my sister is bizarre. I have no idea reading about a stranger's cosmetic surgery could upset you that much. Have you some negative experience or trauma that caused you to lash out on a very civil discussion on a social media?

[RiverBird]

Here is our answer!

msnbc.com Video Player

[seeriously]

No procedure is a 'simple procedure' after a certain age. Just ask Andy Rooney. I'd stay away from the knife and any invasive procedures as much as possible after age 65. Even colonoscopies have been known to puncture the colon in older patients.

[seeriously]

Originally Posted by Wilson513

And, in the final analysis, no one cares if your sister look 55 instead of 60. She's still an old lady, she is not in the game anyway, and the only satisfaction she gets is looking better than her younger sibling. And is that an altruistic motive?

Wow! Ageist here! She's still in the game. Maybe she's not in your game but she's hardly benched at age 60.