Will You Cut it Out?
What Free, Televised cosmetic surgery won't do for you
by Shellie R. Warren

So, if everyone's doing it, what's wrong with all of us watching it? Well, a couple of things, actually. I will never forget an ABC casting agent who held a reality television show casting call here in Nashville a few years back stating: “If you are really serious about your life and want to be taken seriously, reality T.V. isn't really for you because one way or another it always comes back to haunt you. However, if you are only looking for 15 minutes of fame, go for it!”

Just looking at the personal success rate of those on many popular reality shows with other themes such as love (The Bachelor, Meet Joe Millionaire, Who Wants to Marry A Millionaire, For Love or Money); and the questionable benefits of reality-based talent shows such as American Idol, Last Comic Standing and Nashville Star and you can't help but wonder how her opinion fits in to the cosmetic craze. The ”reality” is, unlike many other shows, once the 15 minutes of fame and the hype of something new is gone, when it comes to cosmetic surgery, you still have something to deal with---a newly constructed physical person that oftentimes encases the same internal being. Once the lights are gone, there are dark secrets of self-esteem that still need to be dealt with.

Just recently I saw two women on The View who were “Swan” contestants and one woman said that before the surgeries, she always saw herself as an ugly witch and she was so grateful for the (extensive) surgeries because she now feels beautiful. I'm sorry, but if you see yourself as an ugly witch, The Swan should not be the first solution to your problem.

Just like a woman who may be looking for love on the airwaves, one date with Jesse Palmer (the most recent “Bachelor”) shouldn't suddenly make you feel like someone worth dating or loving. That is way too much pressure to put on and too much credit to give to any man; and when it comes to your self-perception and the desire to be something different than what you are, if you miraculously feel that life is worth living after waking up from being under the beauty knife just so that you can have bigger breasts, another nose or Brad Pitt's face (like some featured twins on I Want A Famous Face), that is also too much pressure to put on and too much credit to give to a surgeon, a celebrity or a television show producer.

No matter what the trick of editing and applause may want you to think, reality television shows, especially ones that deal with plastic surgery, should not be perceived as quick fixes to anyone's internal conflicts.

Which brings me back to me and my own face. I will never forget a photo shoot I had some years back with some top New York-based photographers. I was self-consciously whining about how much I hated my mouth and wanted to get braces and do you know that the photographer said? “You do have an overbite, but it actually adds to your smile. Getting braces will take away from its fullness and your originality. If I were you, I'd leave it alone.” This was the same mouth that I got teased for just a few years prior. Now it was perceived as an asset rather than a liability.

Believe it or not, even with all of the “flaws” I have mentioned, I have done a little modeling since, but that's not really the point. I am now resolved that braces, yes, will make my teeth straighter, but they are not what will make or break the looking glass that I look into every single morning. Like make-up and different hairstyles, cosmetic surgery should enhance, not change who you are. If you want it, I guess that's okay. But if you feel you need it, purely for cosmetic reasons, I urge you to get a second opinion of your self-worth before anything else. Some times we forget that sustainability is just as important within ourselves as it is in our day-to-day lives.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and ugly is to the bone. It's all about perception, not operations. No amount of surgery, televised or otherwise, can or will ever change that fact.

Shellie R. Warren is a full-time freelancer writer in Nashville, TN. Her first book, an autobiography on sex and relationships, "Inside of Me: Lessons of Lust, Love and Redemption" will be released on Relevant Books, June 22, 2004.

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