Plastic Surgery Trends and Predictions for 2010 from the Editors of Consumer Guide to Plastic Surgery

This just in from The Consumer Guide to Plastic Surgery

Fat Injections to the Breast Will Be Used Cosmetically

After being condemned by plastic surgery associations, fat injections to the breast were deemed OK for “touch-ups” after breast reconstruction in 2008. But these once controversial injections may soon play a role in cosmetic breast augmentation. Taking fat from a part of the body where there is too much (your thighs or butt, for example) and injecting it into your breasts where there is too little, may replace the need for breast implants when done in conjunction with a breast lift. Some kinks still need to be worked out, but fat injections to the breast are likely here to stay.

I have to admit, this pisses me off. I am so tired of the constant barrage of articles which instruct women how to overcome their physical limitations to beauty. What got me about this excerpt is this line–Taking fat from a part of the body where there is too much (your thighs or but, for example)–and the inherent assumption that there is definitely a measurable and desirable amount of fat for a woman’s thighs or butt, for example. Honestly, I’m overwhelmed sometimes by how insidious are these constant attacks on women’s sense of physical appropriateness.

–Bridgett

Make unnecessary plastic surgery illegal- The New Haven Register – Serving New Haven, Connecticut

Some interesting thoughts from Sophie Pollitt-Cohen.

Make unnecessary plastic surgery illegal- The New Haven Register – Serving New Haven, Connecticut.

“Nude Model” A Poem by Kathleen Driskell

Last night, I reread one of my favorite books of poetry, Seed Across Snow, by the poet Kathleen Driskell who I am lucky enough to call a friend. I love Kathleen’s poetry for its quiet magic, for the way it transports me into singular moments both ordinary and extraordinary in their illumination.

I wanted to share with you a poem that celebrates a woman’s recognition of beauty in her artistic rendering of a nude model.

Nude Model

The first time her tangerine kimono slips                                                                                 from her shoulders, I think she looks pretty

good for her age and I should know because                                                                           she’s about my age, but the dark and limber

girls in my drawing class, suck in                                                                                              their gasps, and I find them tittering

during their cigarette break on the steps outside.                                                                  They are most concerned with her breasts, their droop.

and brown sag. The zig and zag of stretch marks,                                                                the way pulled nipples glance down. But what

do I have to throw back but the yellowish                                                                                ooze of colostrum and the toothy joy

of small things that find their own snuffling                                                                          ways to the heart? Their smooth bland faces

tell me not to bother. I know this would be nothing                                                             to them but the moth-eaten and rag when compared

to the way their boyfriend’s wet mouths                                                                                   slip up on them in the middle of night.

When, for critique, our drawings go up                                                                                   on the wall, I see the girls have chosen

to draw the soft folds of her orange robe,                                                                                the philodendron’s shiny leaves which trail

behind the pose. The high tight arch of her                                                                           foot is the only part of her body they have considered

as art. But I’ve returned again and again to her                                                           breasts; with slip of charcoal in my hand, I do study

after study. Fluid ink. I give into                                                                                                 paint pen, conte. Wild sweep of pink pastel.

Each class I come back to her slandered                                                                               curves and color her green and blue, sometimes

rose, sometimes purple; I portray her                                                                                        as turned land and falling water,

though I know even if it were                                                                                                       possible for these fallow girls to imagine

it, this is no garden                                                                                                                         they would choose to enter.

–Kathleen Driskell

You can learn more about Kathleen’s work and read more of her poetry at her website www.kathleendriskell.org

What to say about 38KKK?

This morning in my Facebook inbox (thanks to a savvy feminist friend), I found a link to this story on the Huffington Post.

Sheyla Hershey

Hershey, a 28 year-old model who lives in Texas, has augmented boobs to the grand-old-size of 38KKK.  Now for those of you completely freaked out by boobs that big head on over to Huffpost where you can see more pics and video of Hershey whose boobs are filled with over a gallon of silicone.

I have to tell you, I really don’t know how to approach this story. It seems as if I am making judgements all the time (although I’m trying not to), but the outrageousness of Sheyla’s quest to have the biggest boobs (she says she was inspired by Dolly Parton) speaks of more, I think, than just society’s ridiculous emphasis on women’s appearances.

I’m loathe to say I feel sorry for a woman who claims to have finally made her own dreams come true, and yet that is the only feeling I can come up with. When I look at the pictures, or watch the video where Hershey talks about realizing her dreams of a perfect body, or peruse her website with its gallery of pictures and its strange video in which Hershey, in a striped suite, performs the same moves as the woman who stands next to her holding watermelons up to her breasts, I feel only sadness.

Surely there is more to this story–plastic surgery addiction (she has also had work done on her face) or mental health issues (I know I go out on a limb here)–and yet the news story focuses on the ridiculousness of the boobs (the female Fox newscaster is flabbergasted) as well as on the fact that Hershey had to go to Brazil to get this done. The negative health aspects are touched upon by a diet doctor who has written a book about how to get the “perfect body,” but where is the discussion of a society in which this sort of act is discussed as the oddball fetish of a Brazilian-born actress rather than a response to a culture so fixated on women’s body appearance–you can watch it here:

I’m no psychologist. I’m no pop culture critic. I’m a 42 year-old feminist who came to feminism in her late 20s after giving birth to two children and struggling with an eating disorder for 15 years. Most of the time, I’m not sure what I think, or rather, I’m likely to question my own thoughts, but I have to admit to a certain disbelief concerning any “sexual empowerment” feminism that embraces hyper-sexualization of women and girls’ bodies and lives (disbelief as in–it’s a bunch of bullshit). I’m loathe to say too much about Hershey because I do not know her, but I find that in my reticence there is also a fear of putting a “sister” down. Like we are all supposed to support each other’s actions in the name of feminism. Which would follow then that if Hershey says these gargantuan boobs are good for her self-esteem then we should not only believe her, we should applaud her tenacity in getting what she wants.

Here’s the thing: it’s easy to say that Hershey has gone too far without seeming like a radical feminist prude (this is probably a good classification for me if we count as prude anti-elective surgery). Even the most rampant raunch-culture-sex-is-about-empowerment feminists should be able to look at Hershey and note that something has gone horribly wrong here.

But what I’d like to note is that Hershey’s 38KKKs are only a magnification of many women’s desires to re-shape their bodies, whether that reshaping takes the form of a diet that disallows a Christmas chocolate and a glass of red wine to the vacuuming of fat from the hips and thighs to new and improved surgeries to “enhance” the shape and size of breasts. If what Hershey has done is decidedly NOT OKAY, then where is the line? I would like to assert that there isn’t a line. That to stamp as OK any woman’s desire to conform surgically to some externalized (or internalized) image of bodily perfection in order to somehow ramp up her self-esteem is to completely ignore the fact that the assumption of “bodily perfection” is a fallacy that should be brought to light.

What do you think?

–Bridgett

We need a new women’s health movement — latimes.com

Barbara Ehrenreich has a few interesting things to say about the new mammography guidelines.

We need a new women’s health movement — latimes.com

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The “Normal Breast Mound”–Wednesday’s Lengthy WTF

I think that’s fairly standard for every woman: no matter what size you are, someone is criticizing/critiquing your boobs. No matter what you look like there is always something wrong with the way that you look. –Roxy

This morning I opened my Her Life With Boobs inbox and found Roxy’s comments which you can read in their entirety here and a press release for Michigan breast enhancement which you can read in its creepy-as-hell-entirety here.

First I want to thank Roxy for responding to my recent post Pondering the Small Breasted because her comments provided a filter of sanity through which I was able to read this press release which asserts that:

Breast enhancement is no longer just about size. Whether they want a more dramatic look or a more “normal” breast shape, more women in Michigan are choosing breast enhancement to lift, reduce, and reshape their breasts.

Yes, you read it right. Women in Michigan are choosing more “normal” breast shape. (Two things here: there is no “normal” breast shape, and I just have to ask–only women in Michigan?)

Dr. John Sampson, board-certified plastic surgeon at Argyle Plastic Surgery, explains that  “Breast augmentation used to be all about volume, but I think at this point we’ve started to move beyond that and focus more on larger issues like balance and symmetry,” he says. “These days breast asymmetry is a concern that’s driving women to seek out breast enhancement, and augmentation will sometimes play a role in correcting that, but it’s not always the main priority.”

In case you didn’t know, ladies, Over 90 percent of women experience some form of breast asymmetry, and while genetics causes many of the more dramatic imbalances in shape and size, Dr. Sampson says a large percentage of his patients from Ann Arbor and Lansing choose to address much subtler problems.

And what would these subtle problems be? I ask while taking my bra off so my own asymmetrical breasts can rest on my desk while I read and type and choke.

“Even small differences in the position of the nipple or the shape of the breast mound can negatively affect a woman’s self-confidence,” he notes.

“Lift procedures can correct many different problems at once, which I think is why we’re seeing so much interest in them right now,” says Dr. Sampson. “A lift will elevate and reshape the breast mound, but it can also help reposition the nipple and give the breast a firmer, denser feel, and for many women that’s very important.”

RESHAPE THE BREAST MOUND? What the F*/# is a breast mound?

But Dr. Sampson doesn’t answer my inane question (probably because I am reading a press release for his breast enhancement clinic), instead he asserts “We’re seeing a new generation of younger patients who feel comfortable with the concept of plastic surgery, and some of them are approaching it more thoughtfully and carefully from the beginning,” he says. “Size can still be key to a more balanced look, but in recent years many more of my patients are thinking in terms of shape, position and overall beauty.”

Here’s the thing–I include all these stupid quotes from the press release because I want to illustrate the kind of messages women receive all the time. Even if we believe we have a healthy attitude concerning our bodies, we are inundated by the ridiculous idea that the “normalcy” of our “breast mounds” has something to do with our self-esteem.

Really? I don’t even know what a “breast mound” is, but I have a feeling that I am a more complex individual than to be psychologically damaged because my boobs aren’t quite firm enough.

And yet, legions of women believe this. Legions of women hoist their boobs up into padded or underwired or push-up bras, not because we feel better when our boobs are up there, but because we are supposed to feel better when our boobs are up there. Yesterday, I read somewhere (forgive me for not having the link) that boobs are best when they are positioned halfway between the shoulder-blade and the crook of the elbow. Who made up these ridiculous rules? And why do we follow them?

Roxy’s comments made me realize something. She contends that no matter who you are, your experience is the same, people feel like they can critique your boobs (or the rest of you for that matter). My fear is that these assumptions of “normalcy” in boob shape, size, position, firmness are so widespread that we do not see the oppression in the standards anymore, but instead we apply them to ourselves.

What would a world without breast enhancement look like? Like us, of course, because we all already have NORMAL BOOBS. We aren’t defined by our boobs–no matter what Dr. John Sampson says!

–Bridgett

Why Helena Christensen loves breasts and being in the nude | Metro.co.uk

In the new issue of Elle, Helena Christensen says a few smart things about breasts and nudity–like

‘It’s crazy – you can have movie posters with men with machine guns but, oh, God forbid you show the nipples! That never ceases to amaze me. It’s flabbergasting. I can understand if you have your legs spread and you’re pushing yourself into the camera – that’s sexually erotic. But the sensual contours in the male or female shape? Come on, guys, relax.’

Read more  Why Helena Christensen loves breasts and being in the nude | Metro.co.uk.

–Bridgett

Pondering the Small-Breasted

I was so embarrassed about the smallness of my breasts that I developed very poor posture, to hide my boobs. –Erica, 31

I have to admit, I can hardly imagine not liking small breasts. All I’ve ever wanted is smallness. All I’ve ever wanted was to be boy-thin with some small breasts, and all I’ve ever been is curvy with boobs. Even at my tiniest, bulimia-induced thinnest weight, I had curves and boobs (I’m not even going to talk about the round face).

Unless I was breastfeeding (and I did that for a good 6 years if I add the years together), my boobs have mostly been a source of anguish for me. They were too out there or down there or nipply. They sagged and they bounced and in a sports bra they became a shelf of flesh–all smashed together and sweaty to boot. I’ve curved my shoulders in to hide them while the very people (family) who thought I should be nipple-free and brassiered-up told me to straighten my shoulders. I’ve spent my entire life enamored of the small-chested woman, her tiny breasts–a pad of flesh with a nipple, her freedom to go braless, her freedom from sag or stretch marks, her ease in clothing made for the skinny boobed woman.

That’s why I was so stunned when my friend, Erica, said to me, “You have to represent the underbreasted on your blog!” The underbreasted? How could I have missed it? I post articles about breast augmentation, and I really never gave much thought to the plight of women who wished their boobs were bigger. If I’m truthful, I will admit that from a big boob position, the small-breasted woman’s concerns seem trivial to me. At least before I took some time to think about it.

Augmentation has always been a bit of a mystery to me, something like–why in the hell would anyone want more boob? But I did understand it as a way to perk up saggy breasts. Is it ridiculous to say that I thought women really didn’t worry about small breasts, or that if they did, they were brainwashed by society’s pornographic focus on the perfect body–you know, the thin-hipped, long-legged, high and firm-breasted airbrushed body we see in magazines? Or not ridiculous, but perhaps closed-minded?

I hate closed-minded.

Erica’s family has a tradition of singing a song to the tune of Tiny Bubbles–yes, you got it–Tiny boobies, on Cindy’s chest. One points east, the other points west. Erica writes, “I hate this. I hate it when they sing it to me. I hate when my boobs are called cones or pancakes. I hate the ‘handful is enough’ saying.” And I get it. I hated being called Triple B for Big Boobs Bridgett, but I can imagine that Tiny Boobies would be a bit grating too.

Barbara writes, “As a teenager, I was very self-conscious about my boobs, always wishing they were bigger and more symmetrical.”

I just have to insert here: Why don’t we tell girls that breasts are not SYMMETRICAL? It drives me crazy–no one’s boobs are symmetrical, and yet we are ALL embarrassed by lop-sidedness.

But back to Barbara who notes: “I always wanted to take my sweatshirt off when it was warm at school, but I was too self-conscious about being a smallish-medium and a bit lop-sided.Girls boobs were up for conversation, up for making jokes about in school. . . , and on the radio (BBC radio no less) the breasts of the only woman on a team were a-ok as a conversation topic, even when talked about as being like ‘two cherries on an ironing board’ (that this wasn’t preferable was made clear).”

Barbara’s testimony points out to me again and again that women are oppressed by their boobs, not because they are large and big nippled and poke through even the most padded bra or because they are too small to be seen beneath a thick sweatshirt, but because they are fair game for radio or locker conversation, because they can be cartoonized by stupid songs or nicknames, because we rarely see images of real boobs and because fake boobs are everywhere, on billboards, in magazines, on TV and in films. How is it that in a society that uses boobs to sell cars and surgeries, women are still embarrassed to take a sweatshirt off in public?

My friend, Erica, is a beautiful and smart woman. With long dark hair and pale skin, she is both petite and fiery. It comes as a shock to me that she would ever think of augmenting her breasts, and yet she does think about it. It makes me realize how very much the emphasis on appearance affects girls and women.

As a woman who has spent many years trying to take up less space, it is a revelation to hear the stories from women who feel or have felt inadequate because of smallness. When I think about the many many ways women are “stuck” in a no-win battle with bodies that will never measure up to physical ideals achievable only by trick photography or surgery, it does seem a bit of a conspiracy, doesn’t it.

I’d love to hear more of your stories. Tell me what  you think about the similarities between the anxieties of having too much boob or not enough.

Here’s to our lives with small, big, lopsided, dimpled, hanging, even augmented boobs!–Bridgett

Another Boob Poll

Implants Lead to Suicide

Again for those of you who may not have read the entire blog, the goal of  Her Life with Boobs is to help women embrace their natural boobs.  Here’s another reason to learn to love the real you:

Breast Implants Don’t Solve Underlying Self-esteem Issues

By John M Grohol PsyD
September 21, 2006

 

A study conducted among 24,600 women by two Université Laval Faculty of Medicine researchers and their colleagues from the Canadian Public Health Agency and Cancer Care Ontario concludes that having breast implants does not increase mortality risk.

However, the study reveals that the suicide rate among women with breast implants is 73% higher than in the general population. These findings are published in a recent issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.

This finding is not surprising, since many women seek out breast enhancement surgery for reasons of low self-esteem or because they lack self-confidence. They believe that the surgery will create a new person that they can then build upon. All too often, however, the surgery only highlights the flaws in the person’s life, as they cope with the pain and recovery of the surgery on their own.

Previous studies have observed that the psychological profile of women who receive breast implants is characterized by low self-esteem, lack of self-confidence, and more frequent mental illnesses such as depression.

Ethical doctors should refer women who have such problems to a therapist or psychologist for treatment before undertaking plastic surgery. Plastic surgery cannot treat a lack of self-confidence or depression.

- Jess