So you're suffering from low self-esteem, lacking in self-confidence, and not excited about your less-than-perfect body.   No problem!   It's nothing a new haircut, wardrobe change, or visit to the gym can't solve, right? Not any more, apparently. Gone are the days when body image problems are solved through friends, exercise, or counseling.   Gone too is the era of au naturel and unaltered body parts.   More and more people these days, especially women, are turning to the operating table to conquer battles over self-image. With images of Janet Jackson's breasts, Britney Spears' tummy, and J. Lo's booty filling television screens and invading magazine stands across the country, it's no surprise that Americans are filled with false impressions of beauty and self-worth.   Plastic surgery has turned into a mainstream trend, just as flare jeans and VW Beetles once were.  

            We all have insecurities about our bodies.   Whether it's our stomachs, our thighs, or our noses, there will always be something about ourselves that will never be good enough.   But some are taking this obsessing about our imperfections to an entirely new and dangerous level.   Plastic surgery's role in Americans' lives is starkly increasing.   In fact, according to ediets.com, last year "Americans spent almost $8.4 billion on more than 15 million procedures - greater than 2 million more than the previous year."   The all- too-common trend we are witnessing leads us to question the direction of values in our culture.   Are happiness, success, and confidence achieved solely in physical perfection?   Are those of us who don't have the physical attractiveness of celebrities but cling to our natural blemishes any less fulfilled than those who turn to cosmetic surgery?   In terms of today, I believe it is safe to assert that our culture's relentless pursuit of money, success, and perfection has created some uncontrollable urge, driving us to cut up our own bodies.  

            Whatever happened to the notion that beauty is not skin deep, but comes from within?   The media and pop culture in this country have distorted the vision of beauty.   Through images and television shows, they have twisted a message of loving your body for what it is by promoting plastic surgery as an answer to all your problems.   We are all influenced by the pressure to fit in, to succeed, and to please in our daily lives.   But portrayals of plastic surgery in the media have sent the message that any road bump or obstacle through life can be solved through a simple nip and tuck.   Nervous about getting that new managing job? No sweat, a rhinoplasty will do the trick.   Want to impress that boy you've had a crush on all year?   Just stop by your nearest plastic surgeon for a breast enlargement.   Feeling a little depressed lately?   Consider some liposuction to boost your mood.  

            As economic conditions improve for the average citizen, more people can afford to worry about their looks.   A shift in cultural values has led to an increasing demand for plastic surgery as well as plastic surgery reality shows on television.   Whether to improve their chances of getting a job or to diminish signs of natural aging, more and more people are following the leads of participants on television makeover shows such as The Swan , Extreme Makeover , and I Want a Famous Face, or characters on the hit drama Nip/Tuck, and going under the knife themselves.   Depictions of plastic surgery on these shows suggest to viewers that such a cosmetic makeover will transform their lives, solving problems ranging from saving a marriage to earning a job promotion.   But is treating your face like a piece of raw meat really going to solve anything?   These shows are outrageous, for they send the completely wrong message to viewers, telling fragile patients to mask their psychological flaws through physical perfection. Are we going from watching Nip/Tuck to becoming a nip/tuck nation?

            In the television program The Swan , contestants undergo painful surgeries in pursuit of winning a beauty pageant.   According to one website, ienhance.com, in one episode a participant underwent a brow lift, a nose job, lip enhancement, chin liposuction and Lasik surgery, as well as dental surgery to make her teeth look bigger. Her body was treated to a breast augmentation, a tummy tuck and liposuction on her calves and ankles.   The unhealthy body image promoted by the media is a version of femininity that is produced specifically for the male eye.   Historically, women have always been trying to alter their bodies in order to achieve society's definition of ideal beauty.   From the use of corsets in order to narrow the waists of women in nineteenth-century America, to the binding of women's feet to stunt their growth in thirteenth-century China, nothing short of perfection has seemed to be acceptable.   Now, shows like The Swan are just another way women and girls are drilled with the message that they are not good enough unless they go to extremes to fit into an increasingly narrow ideal.   Girls no longer grow into beautiful women naturally; it's the local surgeon who gives them this so-called beauty.

            I don't know what is more disturbing about these reality shows: that the participants are so eager or that the shows are so popular.   Through these horrific media messages, cosmetic surgery is becoming frighteningly "normal.    Such programs reflect society's acceptance of plastic surgery as a cure-all for everything from an unhealthy lifestyle to aging.   It is bad enough that millions of baby boomers are rushing to plastic surgeons, but now this trend is spreading to an even younger population.   Teens, who haven't even reached full development in many cases, are turning to cosmetic procedures to combat so-called "flaws."  

            These cosmetic surgery reality shows also raise the issue of how much is too much.   Some people make a visit to a plastic surgeon a monthly routine.   To people who can afford it, and even to those who can't, plastic surgery can become an addiction when a patient wants more than what is appropriate for health and well-being.   Don't get me wrong; cosmetic surgery clearly benefits those with cosmetic deformities.   By correcting disfigurements, these procedures can help patients integrate into society better and lead as normal a life as possible.   But persons lacking any obvious physical defect are exposing their bodies to butchery in pursuit of beauty.  

            People are getting the wrong message these days.   Plastic surgery is being abused.   It should not be used as an escape or easy way out to avoid the inevitable.   There are much easier, safer, and healthier options to battle obesity or aging than the procedures of liposuction or face lifts.   Regular exercise and a healthy diet are much safer routes to achieve goals than surgery.   You can't honestly say that subjecting yourself to a ten-hour procedure involving your skin being torn from the underlying tissue, fat being sucked up, and excess skin trimmed away is more appealing than adding more vegetables to your diet or talking a walk every day.   Beyond that, the results of these procedures are only temporary.   Natural beauty, on the other hand, is much longer-lasting and actually much more aesthetically pleasing, in my opinion.  

            Another factor to take into account is the risk of death.   Olivia Goldsmith, author of The First Wives Club , died recently as a result of what was supposed to have been routine cosmetic surgery.   Any cosmetic procedure that lists death as a possible outcome is simply not worth it.   A simple change in lifestyle and taking responsibility for one's own life can often be the simple trick to attaining beauty, health, and youthfulness.   Beauty and health should be strictly within the reach of our own hands, not those of a surgeon.