Hadcorp News: April 21, 2008

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----- Forwarded Message ----From: "humanadjuvantdisease@..." <humanadjuvantdisease@...>Hadcorp News: April 21, 2008

Teens to wait until 18 for cosmetic surgery

NEWS.com.au

Australia

By Kate Sikora

April 21, 2008 02:59am

TEENAGE girls will have to wait until they are 18 before having breast implants as the New South Wales Government overhauls the rules for cosmetic surgery.

Under one of the toughest crackdowns by the Government on the booming industry, it will now be harder for children to undergo non-medical procedures in their quest to look more like celebrities.

From July 1, all teenagers wanting cosmetic surgery will have to wait up to three months as part of a cooling-off period.

Surgeons who place false advertisements will face harsh penalties.

Following Queensland's announcement last week banning all cosmetic surgery for under 18s The Daily Telegraph understands Health Minister Reba Meagher is considering similar laws.

In NSW, teenagers cannot receive purely cosmetic procedures in public hospitals.

But under the law the Government is considering changing, girls can receive breast implants and have nose reconstructions by a private plastic surgeon.

The crackdown follows years of pressure on the industry, which is criticised for preying on the vulnerable.

"I want teenagers to be able to consider the risks and discuss the need for surgery with their parents, without rushing to their decision," Ms Meagher said.

"I would encourage anyone considering cosmetic procedures to take their time before undergoing surgery."

The changes were first raised by Premier Iemma two years ago - disturbed after watching Big Brother contestant Krystal Forscutt appear on the program with breast implants. Forscutt was 16 when she first wanted the implants but was made to wait by her mother, , until she was 19.

Under the changes being finalised by the NSW Medical Board, advertisements which feature "before and after" photographs, must include information about the reality of the photos.

My beautiful, scarring-me-forever mommy?

Entertainment Weekly

USA

Apr 18, 2008, 05:36 PM | by Mandi Bierly

By now, you've probably heard about the new children's book, My Beautiful Mommy, written by a Florida plastic surgeon who wants to help patients struggling to explain to their kids, ages 4 to 7, why mommy is bruised, bandaged, and unable to parent them for a few days after surgery. As the author told Reuters, "This book was written with the best of intentions. It wasn't trying to corrupt society. It is not glamorizing plastic surgery. It is not intended to be a best seller that children read with their parents before they go to sleep." Well, that's good.

I'm torn over how I feel about this book. On the one hand, I can imagine how difficult it must be to explain a "transformation" to a child. If a woman's going to elect surgery regardless, why not help her (and more importantly, the kids) through it? On the other hand, as some critics have already noted, mommy's explanation that her nose job will make her look "not just different, my dear — prettier!" does appear to send the message that beauty is the goal, and that it's worth any price.

What do you think: a practical solution for a well-defined demo, or pure evil?

Face facts: Plastic surgery out of control

San Mercury News

CA, USA

By McNamara

Los Angeles Times

Article Launched: 04/17/2008 06:14:46 PM PDT

I know we're all supposed to be watching this season of "Dancing With the Stars" to see whether professional athletics or Broadway provides a better foundation for dance. But I'm pretty sure most of us have been, until last week, anyway, far too preoccupied with figuring out whether Priscilla Presley has had the first successful head transplant and why there wasn't a "Frontline" or at least an E! special about it.

According to People magazine, Presley, who was eliminated in last week's competition, was treated by an unlicensed surgeon and is planning to undergo more surgery to correct it, which I cannot imagine is going to help.

Meanwhile, whenever the woman is onscreen it is virtually impossible to look anywhere else — at once puffy and yanked, her face, and its odd relationship to her neck, often takes on the dimensions of a Picasso painting. A finer mind would seize the opportunity and contemplate the larger issues of humanity — the nature of identity, our denial of mortality, the tyranny of beauty. Me, I just sit there open-mouthed, the same questions turning like a hamster wheel in my brain: What on Earth did she do to herself? And why?

It is a question that arises with alarming frequency while watching television these days. Cosmetic surgery among performers is certainly not new; face-lifts, and the accompanying jokes, seemed the birthright of many of TV's pioneers. Joan Rivers has talked about her surgery so many times over the years that it's part of her IMDb Internet bio, which probably explains why she has of late taken to the stage — the light is so much more forgiving. Indeed, plastic surgery is so ubiquitous, so acceptable, it has, ahem, carved out its own genre.

From reality makeover shows to FX's "Nip/Tuck," lipo, lifts, Botox and implants are as much a part of the cultural conversation as braces and contact lenses.

Except that braces are temporary, contact lenses invisible and cosmetic surgery — well, it seems to have gotten out of hand. For a critic, this poses a dilemma: While it is appropriate, indeed necessary, to point out technical things like disruptive camerawork or shoddy set design, what exactly are you supposed to say about an older actor's strange shininess, newly bee-stung lips or eyes that seem to have changed shape and placement? Especially because no one in Hollywood but Joan, Dolly Parton and Kathy seems to own up to having work done.

Google the name of almost any female actor older than 20 and the term "cosmetic surgery," and you will be deluged with blogs and Web sites devoted to deconstructing famous faces and figures, often in the most clinical terms — several of the sites are run, apparently, by actual surgeons who offer their expert analysis. But among those who are being analyzed, plastic surgery has become like gambling in Las Vegas — a billion-dollar industry that no one admits to paying for.

Time to come clean?

So to avoid those angry denials through publicists, and to appear above the proletariat fixation with appearance, mostly we in the mainstream media say nothing. Or rather we say nothing in print and then run into our editor's office to say what everyone else across the country is saying: "Oh, my Lord, did you see what she did to her face?" Me, I think it's time to come clean. If cosmetic surgery and other age-battling or appearance-altering procedures are part of the Zeitgeist, then we need to figure out a way to discuss it critically without seeming like we are engaging in some form of gotcha.

Watching 78-year-old Barbara Walters, for example, her face painfully taut and shiny as she trailed through research facilities devoted to slowing down the aging process on "Live to 150? Can You Do It?" was an almost surreal experience, but what to say? Although recently gushed over the wonders of Botox on a Walters special, the famous interviewer has never made a similar admission.

When Fisher began popping up onscreen again last year — as a divorce lawyer in "Weeds," as a crazy former TV writer on "30 Rock" — we were all so glad to see her working again, no one quite had the heart to mention that her face was so changed, you had to hit the rewind button a few times to make sure it was she. And mercifully, the short-lived "Viva Laughlin" was so all-around bad that no one felt obligated to dwell on, or even mention, the much-speculated-upon changes to Griffith's visage.

Still taboo

It's impossible to know what exactly has happened in each case — age, genetics, hard living, bad lighting, good lighting, Botox or plastic surgery. Whatever, it's the new — and wrinkle-free! — elephant in the living room. Despite a tacit understanding that actors nowadays start lifting and injecting on their 21st birthday, mentioning an inexplicable altered appearance remains strangely taboo.

It's your business, but...

Before I go any further, let me be clear: I begrudge no woman, or man, any surgical or chemical enhancements. At this point, I've just about given up on even trying to keep track of psycho weight loss or breast implants among actors — remember watching various women of "Friends" and "Ally McBeal" shrink to identical size zeros right before our very eyes? Whatever. That's Hollywood. If you want to publicly starve to death or, in the case of the cast of "The Sopranos," risk collective congestive heart failure, that's your business.

People should be free to look as they choose, and this town is tough on women — don't talk to me about Judi Dench and Helen Mirren, they're British. Would an American woman ever get away with anything approaching Nicolas Cage's hair or Spader's increasing portliness? Of course not.

But television is a visual art, and if people are going to significantly alter how they look in ways not directly connected with the roles they are playing, it can affect not only their performance, but the whole tone of the show.

So you tell me, what is a critic supposed to say when part of the problem with a show is that the leading lady's face seems incapable of movement or her eyes appear to be moving toward the sides of her head or her lips just look weird?

Reviewing many of the new shows for the past fall season and midseason replacements, I noticed at least three fairly famous faces that looked decidedly, and distractingly, different, frozen or tugged into almost immobility that made certain emotional scenes almost laughable.

Did I mention this in my reviews? No, I did not, even though I felt whatever procedure had been done clearly presented dramatic problems. I didn't because none of these women has acknowledged publicly anything more drastic than facials, and I thought that to suggest that these women looked shiny, injected or just "off" would be mean and possibly sexist.

If women look old, we criticize, and if they try to fix it, we criticize more snidely. ly, I don't care if an actor wants to yank the whole epidermis up with Scotch tape and baling wire as long as he or she looks human and is still able to act. Unfortunately, unless you are Deneuve, you can't act if your face is petrified. Which is why I won't even watch "Desperate Housewives" anymore — I live in fear of the day Felicity Huffman succumbs to whatever package paralysis deal they've got going on over there.

Actually , the Wisteria Lane ladies might be a fine example of art imitating life. Nicollette Sheridan repeatedly has denied facial surgery, Teri Hatcher has both admitted and denied Botox, and Marcia Cross remains silent. But even if they had a plastic surgeon on-set, it would work for the hyper-reality of the characters — neurotic women in a constant state of sexual upset are not expected to age gracefully.

What, however, are we to make of all the young women and their already-mutating dimensions? Lara Flynn Boyle was virtually unrecognizable on a recent "Law & Order" — although it is to be hoped that the rounder face is because of weight gain (no one puts on pounds in their lips) and she's too young to be worrying about wrinkles.

Which isn't to say there isn't public outcry. For years, we've all rooted for Aniston, even as she gradually whittled down her nose along with the rest of her body. But poor old Tisdale got whaled on in the media for a similar "deviated septum repair." Maybe because she's a Disney girl, and people fear she's too young to have heard of Grey, whose nose job so famously derailed her career that she parodied herself in the 1999 show "It's Like, You Know."

All over the Web

If TV critics are mostly mute on the subject, the blogosphere is not. Outing cosmetic surgery seems to be one of the reasons the Internet was invented, but in a way, it's a zero-sum game. For one thing, you have to figure that surgically enhanced stars are like adulterous politicians -- for every one who gets outed, there are three more quietly passing. And what does it matter, except when it affects the person's performance?

But when we see bad things happen to good faces, when cosmetic decisions interfere with performances, I think we need to speak out. Otherwise the younger generation will think that a fish-mouth smile and those shiny cheeks are normal, and that the Posh Beckham look is something to aspire to.

For me, I wish everyone would stop, not only because the sight of some ill-advised surgery or injection can wreck a perfectly OK television show, but also because I am afraid we will forget what normal looks like. Whenever I see women like Lansbury or the late Geraldine Page or n Ross, I am filled with gratitude. Not just for the nature of their talent, but because their faces always remained precisely and gloriously their faces.

Now, of course, someone will e-mail me with details of all her cosmetic surgeries, and I'll have to shoot myself in the head "... but I'll do it with Botox, because these smile lines are really becoming pronounced, and someone might ask me to go on television.

Brazil's Ban on Doctor-Lender Ties May Nip Plastic Surgery Boom

USA

By Brasileiro

April 17 (Bloomberg) -- Ana Silveira planned to follow a customary route for Brazilians seeking plastic surgery when she decided to get breast implants. First the finance company, then the doctor.

The 31-year-old Rio de Janeiro manicurist never made it to the surgeon.

In a move that threatens Brazil's status as a world center for cosmetic surgery, the Federal Medical Council last month banned ties between doctors and lending firms that help people pay for the operations. The council cited interest rates as high as 55 percent that almost double the cost of procedures.

The finance companies, which call themselves "health- services brokers,'' operate "just like loan sharks do in the streets of poor communities,'' said o D'Avila, president of the council. "It's against medical ethics and exposes people to serious risks.''

The group's ruling has the effect of law. Doctors who continue to do business with the financial agencies will lose their medical licenses, D'Avila said. The council isn't aware of injuries caused by the arrangements and acted "to prevent any tragedies,'' he said.

Second to U.S.

Plastic surgery, a privilege of wealthy Brazilians until the late 1980s, has grown to a $4 billion business from about $1.5 billion in 2003, according to Brazil's Plastic Surgery Society in Sao o. Brazil ranks second only to the U.S., where $13 billion was spent on cosmetic procedures last year, according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery in Los Alamitos, California.

Brazil, with a population of 190 million, has almost 4,100 registered plastic surgeons, compared with 5,000 in the U.S., which has a population of 301 million.

The growth has been fueled by increased demand for plastic surgery from lower-income Brazilians and a rise in loan companies affiliated with doctors who provide the services. There are about 100 such firms now, about double the number in 2003, according to Arnaldo Korn, director of the National Center of Plastic Surgery, a Sao o company that finances surgeries.

The lenders, also called agencies, provide installment payment plans, set up consultations, blood tests and physical examinations, and schedule the operations.

Counting on Loan

Silveira, the Rio manicurist, was counting on a loan from one of those lenders, Rio-based Esteticplan. Now she says she has to abandon her plan to add a cup size to her breasts.

"I can't pay for it in cash,'' Silveira said. "I need long-term financing for this surgery, and the agencies are the easiest way.'' Officials of Esteticplan didn't respond to phone calls seeking comment.

Plano Top, a Sao o agency, allowed patients to pay for breast implants in 36 monthly installments of 217 reais ($125), according to prices posted on the company's Web site that were removed after the ruling. The total price tag of 7,812 reais was almost twice the amount charged to people who paid up front. Plano Top representatives didn't return phone calls seeking comment.

Many patients like Silveira, who planned to pay for the surgery in 24 installments, were required to sign the financing contract before ever meeting with a doctor, according to the Federal Medical Council, the Plastic Surgery Society and the Consumer Protection Agency, known as Procon.

Doctor and Patient

The relationship between patient and doctor, "which starts with a simple consultation, is the basis for any treatment,'' Ivo Pitanguy, 81, the plastic surgeon who invented the so-called Brazilian butt-lift, said in an e-mail. "It's only through personal contact with the doctor that the best decision can be made.''

The finance companies may appeal the decision, said Korn of the National Center of Plastic Surgery. To ban doctors from working with the agencies means cosmetic surgery will be out of reach for many Brazilians, he said.

The medical council is "going against the global trend to make medical treatments more democratic,'' Korn said in an interview. "It's fair to give not-so-wealthy people access to services that for a long time were available just to the rich.''

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