China recently crowned a woman Miss Cosmetic Surgery. The 22 year old woman had undergone eye surgery and had received cheek implants. With cosmetic surgery being more accessible and in some cases more affordable, women who might not have undergone the knife in the past are looking at cosmetic surgery as a viable option.

I admit, I used to be judgmental of celebrities who went under the knife. Like Michael Jackson. He doesn't admit to multiple surgeries but look at Michael Off The Wall and look at Michael now. I know, he claims the skins color is due to a disorder, but even if he was brown, his current face looks nothing like the Thriller era Michael Jackson that I had a crush on when I was 8 years old. He looks like a completely different person.

Another celeb who disappointed me in the cosmetic surgery arena is Lil Kim. Although I have not read published reports where Kim has admitted to having work done on her face, it's no secret. The Lil Kim of 1996 and the Lil Kim now look like two different people. I for one thought Lil Kim was gorgeous when her song "No Time" came out and when she was promoting her album Hardcore.

While I was pondering celebs who went under the knife, I then remembered that I too had undergone cosmetic surgery, although quite minor, but still it can be classified as cosmetic because my health was not at risk.

Somewhere around 7th grade, an unsightly mole appeared on my nose. At first, I thought maybe it was a zit or pimple that just was hanging around extra long, but as 7th grade came to a close, the mark was still on my nose. I went to the family doctor and he told me that it was a mole. A mole? How could this be? Like how could a mole just sprout up on my face after 12 years of not being there? He explained that moles are not always present from birth and can appear at different times.

So through junior high and high school I agonized over this brown raised mole on my nose. I had a friend who constantly reminded me that it looked like a little booger or a chocolate morsel. Since the mole was raised in nature, it couldn't be concealed with make-up. Make-up only made it worse.

I still dated and had a popular social life in high school, but the mole bothered me. From time to time, people would politely tell me, "Excuse me, I just wanted to tell you that you have something on your nose." I would then have to explain it was a mole.

By the time I got to college, no one mentioned the mole, heck at college their were people with far worse abnormalities than a little mole. The mole still bothered me. In my opinion, it made my face look off balanced. It sat to the right of my nose, I just felt like my face was crooked. Of course family members and some friends told me the mole was beautiful and gave me character, but that didn't matter. I hated it.

By my junior year of college, I had seen at least 3 doctors about the mole. They all concluded that since it didn't change colors, didn't hurt and didn't seem to be growing that it was harmless and was staying on my face.

Being the smart woman that I was, I used their information to see another doctor. I told doctor number #4 that the mole changed colors, hurt quite badly and that it changed size and shape. Doctor number 4 concluded that the mole had to come off-and right away.

Now sure I could have just gone to a cosmetic surgeon who would remove it no questions asked, and I did contact a few, but hey, my insurance wouldn't' pay for it then right?

Just two days after our initial meeting. doctor #4 was removing my mole via outpatient surgery. For some reason I thought they were going to put me to sleep. No. They put a mask over my face leaving nothing exposed but my nose and they went to work. I felt tugging but no real pain because they had numbed the area. Within15 minutes they were done and the remains of the mole were sent to be biopsied. Of course weeks later they told me that the mole was benign and had no cancer or anything. I wasn't shocked since I faked all the mole conditions.

For the next two weeks or maybe a little less, I walked around with a Band-Aid on my nose and I think maybe one or two stitches in my nose. People asked me if I had had a nose job, of course I told them I didn't, but I still thought it was cool people thought I could afford something like that.

When the Band-Aid was removed, the mole was gone-but it was replaced with a dent in my nose. I started to feel more self conscious about the dent than the mole. The doctors were right though, within a year the dent had filled in almost 100% and now it looks faintly like I might have had my nose pierced at one time.

The recollection of the experience made me think about celebrities and people under thirty that I know who have gone under the knife. If I agonized over that mole like that and took the opportunity to do something about it, perhaps other people agonize over things associated with their body and if they can do something about it, who am I or society to say that they shouldn't do it. Especially women who want to work in entertainment, the pressure is on.

Nose Jobs
I had a friend long ago who was tall, very gorgeous and interested in modeling and acting. She was tall, blonde, thin, the stereotype of a California girl. Her nose was big with a hump in it. I didn't see that big of a problem with her nose. I would accompany her often to modeling and acting auditions and she rarely got the job. Yes, I know it's a tough field to break into, but she really felt that her nose was holding her up. What did she do? She saved her money. She gave surfing lessons to earn extra money and by the time she was finished with high school she had all of the money for her nose job.

A little time passed and I saw her and she asked me if I noticed anything different. I didn't. She had had the nose job, but her nose now looked crooked and it still had the hump in it. Turns out doctor #1 messed up her nose. There is no insurance to my knowledge that will pay to fix a botched rhinoplasty if the persons health isn't at risk. So my friend had to think of a way to get her nose fixed because now it actually looked like she had gone through a windshield because it was so crooked. I think she put nosejob #2 on her credit card and this time her nose was much better. She still wasn't 100% pleased, but this more Nikki Taylor type of nose made my friend much happier. She went on to have a semi-successful modeling career (not runway or anything like that but print, local, girls gone wild type of stuff) and did some acting (soap opera extra, movie walk on and cable movie extra). She had nose job number one at 18 and the second one at age 20. She is happy with her nose and feels like this new nose gave her a fighting chance.

The bottom line on nose jobs
It's easy for people to just say "love yourself." However, if you are at a point where you are consumed with your nose and you feel like it is hindering your life or career do something about it. Be aware of the risks and the chance that it might not turn out the way you want it to the first time. The real point is, if you spend 30% of your day fretting over your nose, considering doing something!

I think that breast jobs are wonderful for people's whose self esteem is poor due to their breasts. I knew a young woman once who had very small breasts. Like an A-. This probably wouldn't have been so noticeable had she been slim or more proportioned. She was very hippy with a J-Lo butt (the Selena J-Lo butt). She was about a size 8 or 9. In high school, guys would notice how flat she was up top and make comments, but she still had mad men chasing her. As she got older, what she didn't like was when men would say things like, "I got with you because I like women who are shaped like little girls," or "I like teenies or nubs." This friend also wanted to get into acting and modeling.

She saved up money and put some money down and financed the rest and got her breasts done. She didn't get outrageous with it, she went from an A cup to a C cup. Her clothes fit nicely and she looks very proportioned now. She did not suffer any serious complications. Her self esteem has sky rocketed and she has done some modeling and acting now. She most recently appeared in several rap music videos. She was age 24 at the time of surgery.

Now I am not saying that if your breasts are small that you can't be happy with them. Look at stars like Sarah Jessica Parker, Gwen Stefani, and Cameron Diaz. They appear confident and are quite successful, but if you feel like you would be happier with larger breast, consider the risks and just think about it. Are you the type of person that maybe a push up bra could help? Remember breast implants are not without complications. Many a woman has had complaints with their new breasts.

This article could go on and on and on. But what I am seeing is the under thirty crowd is going under the knife more and more. Another woman I know lives in the beautiful city of Miami. This woman is 23 years old and a year and a half ago had a child. I know that Miami is about beautiful people, and in my opinion this woman was beautiful, but after having her daughter she decided that it was time to step up the game. She was not fat in my opinion, she weighed between 127 and 135 pounds and was maybe five foot six, but she felt that no matter how much she worked out she had fat she could not lose. She saved up money for what I like to call-the works. She had lipo on her thighs and butt area, a tummy tuck, collagen put in her lips, cheek implants and a breast lift-at 23 years old! I used to think that tummy tucks and lipo were for older women who needed a little extra help. I never imagined a 23 year old evening being considered a viable candidate for such extreme cosmetic surgery.

We are starting to live in a Swan like society-if you don't like something, fix it. The women I described above are of all different races. The woman with the nose job is white, the woman with the breast job is African-American and the woman who got the works is Puerto Rican. Cosmetic surgery is becoming more commonplace for women of all races and ages. Beware because no surgery is without risk and the outcome isn't guaranteed to be exactly the way that you want it to be.

And remember...this is just my opinion.

Dorrie Williams-Wheeler, December 2004

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Dorrie Williams-Wheeler is a very married, quite eccentric, multi talented chick with way too much time on her hands. She is also the author of Be My Sorority Sister-Under Pressure and the editor for Tha Biz, check her out on line at www.dorrieinteractive.com.