new york post article on Mtv show

[Guest guest]

FACE TIME

By FARRAH WEINSTEIN

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SHA Ross, who is just 19 years old, wants to look like Pamela .

So she gets breast implants, lip implants and liposuction on her chin, all so she can realize her dream - and her heroine's accomplishment - of being a Playboy centerfold.

And guess what?

She got it. , a 23-year-old transsexual, idolizes . So she is having breast implants, cheek implants, an eyebrow lift and her hairline lowered so that she can look like her idol.

, an Elvis impersonator, wants to get a chin implant and lip injections so he can look more like " The King. "

And Mike and Matt, 20-year-old twin brothers from Arizona, want more than anything to look like Brad Pitt.

They both get rhinoplasty, chin implants and porcelain veneers, in the hopes that all the facial overhauling - and massive pain that they suffer - will ultimately help them with their dreams of becoming movie stars.

And all of these people undergo their surgeries on TV.

Beginning tomorrow night, MTV is airing " I Want a Famous Face, " a new reality show that makes the plastic surgery patients on " Extreme Makeover " look like models of restraint.

Each of these subjects - who are in the throes of idol worship and some serious self-esteem issues - are seen before, during, and after their surgeries, while parents and friends cheer them on.

MTV insists that they are not exploiting young people with somewhat fantastic dreams but are rather merely documenting a phenomenon that is beginning to sweep the nation.

" The idea behind the series is to document trends we see with young people, " says supervising producer Marshall Eisen.

" A lot of them are interested in emulating a celebrity in some way, " he continues. " A big part of the culture has an obsession with celebrity, and then there's an obsession with looking better, and the two are intercepting in a way we can't ignore. "

According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, more than 8.7 million cosmetic plastic surgery procedures were performed in 2003, up 32 percent from nearly 6.6 million in 2002.

People ages 19-34 made up 26 percent of these cosmetic surgeries.

But does cosmetic surgery really make a person feel better on the inside, or has America just gone berserk?

Dr. Garth Fisher, a plastic surgeon who is married to TV personality Burke, says he frequently gets patients who bring in celebrity photos and request Angelina Jolie's lips or Ashton Kutcher's eyes.

He thinks that " I Want a Famous Face " will be fun to watch - but, he (somewhat obviously) is unsettled.

" I don't think you can make someone look exactly like somebody else. You can't turn anybody into Brad Pitt. "

And while the subjects on the MTV show may suspect such a thing, it doesn't deter them.

One subject, however, is documented as she makes the decision to reverse her plastic surgery after she was not only unsatisfied but suffered enormously afterward.

Texas native Kacey Long, who is a subject on the show, didn't want to change her face but did want to look like in " Brokovich " after noticing ' enhanced bustline in that movie (which has said she got through push-up bras).

Long got a payment plan, and then she got breast implants for $4,500.

" I saw the movie and they taped her breasts up and I thought, 'Maybe that is more attractive,' " she says.

But since the implants, Long (now 21) had been incredibly ill, suffering from a painful case of arthritis that causes constant exhaustion.

She had over $400 in medical bills per month.

MTV documented her breast implant removal procedure (which cost another $6,000) and a few weeks of her recovery.

Long says plastic surgery is almost as common for high school and college kids as getting a pedicure.

" It's becoming socially acceptable, like, 'Oh I'm going to get my nose done,' " she says. " And people act like it's no big deal. "

" We show how brutal the surgeries are, and how the results come out, " says producer Eisen. " Every [subject] says, 'why did I do this?'

The twins who want to look like Brad Pitt, he says, are self-professed " ugly guys. "

After multiple facial surgeries, they " didn't feel like they look like Brad Pitt, " Eisner says.

Dr. Larry Rosenthal, who performs one-day " smile makeovers " on celebrities like Matt Dillon and Bridget Hall, has an interesting philosophy.

" I don't think any of these shows are shockers, " he says. " Reality shows are showing what is. It's people fantasizing to be someone else or something else. They think if they look like that, they're going to be like that.

" It's not reality - it's fantasy more than anything else, " he says.

While some plastic surgeons understand why young people increasingly want to look like celebrities - and think that it may improve their lives - others people remain skeptical.

" If everyone wants to come face-to-face with the trainwreck of American culture, this is where you can see it, " says 32-year-old pop culture omnivore and Gawker.com editor Choire Sicha. " When we were kids, we dressed up like Madonna and went to the mall. We didn't do anything irrevocable, like get our faces done. "