Too Much Surgery
Posted: Sunday 11 April 2010 11:09am
Is it possible to become addicted to cosmetic surgery, and go from looking naturally younger and fresher to overdone and freakish?
According to Dr Gabrielle Caswell, President of the Cosmetic Physicians Society of Australasia, “People can lose perspective, and much of this can depend on a person’s peer group or doctor.
“The one millimetre too far rule is an important one, as that tiny amount can make a big difference in how you look.”
Dr Caswell adds that it’s important to remember that the practice of cosmetic medicine in Australia is not quite the same as in America, where it is very commercially driven. Here, a more natural look is favoured, but she says there can come a point where people don’t look natural and the face becomes “expressionless”.
She says to attain this natural, fresher look, it’s important to choose a practitioner who is “going to leave movement in your face, enhance your natural features, and be sympathetic to your genetic and individual ageing process”.
“Perhaps if people preferred non-surgical adjustable technology to permanent surgical solutions, they would get a nicer and more natural outcome,” Dr Caswell comments.
“It’s important to note that in America their concept of beauty is much younger, rather than accepting that all ages have their own beauty, hence people are attempting to recapture or maintain something that is unachievable with our current technology.”
She adds though that, “Today, dermal fillers are providing new and novel ways to provide better options than surgery.”
Following are some celebrity cosmetic cases of the good, the bad and the downright ugly.
DEMI MOORE
Hollywood’s most famous cougar consistently denies she’s had plastic surgery, despite looking younger every year. Demi, 47, reportedly spent $500,000 on a total body overhaul, with lipo-sculpting for the hips and stomach, a breast lift, facial injections, lips plumping and a nose job. Says Dr Caswell, “She definitely hasn’t gone overboard with her bosoms, and her face is done very well, but she also obviously works out to maintain her results.”
Verdict: Sensational
SOPHIE MONK
Bigger isn’t always better and clearly 30-year-old Sophie Monk’s attempt at creating Angelina Jolie’s lush lips has failed abysmally. “This is a portrait of a very pretty girl that has been distorted, and as a result, is beginning to look odd,” says Dr Caswell.
Verdict: Stop – now!
KYLIE
The Aussie songbird seems to have overstepped the line with her cosmetic makeover, with rumours of a brow lift that’s left her eyebrows looking out of place, cheek implants, and overly plumped lips. “I think a thread lift is holding her brow up in its signature look,” says Dr Caswell. “I think it suits her, but if she does much more she’ll look weird – maybe her face could have a little less Botox.”
Verdict: Borderline
LINDSAY LOHAN
This once thin-lipped redhead, blossomed into a pouty blonde temptress, but now the 23-year-old actress has pumped up her lips into sausage-like structures. “It’s a little too much for her delicate face – she’d look better with half the lip filler and a little filler in her cheek flat.”
Verdict: Trout pout princess
MADONNA
This queen of reinvention, Madonna, at 51, can no longer put her youthful looks down to lucky genes. Her firm, taut look is probably due to a facelift, Botox, dermal injections, and treatments such as Fraxel or Thermage. But her bony hands tell another story and look every bit their half century. Says Dr Caswell, “When she overdid her fillers she looked like a puffball, but now that all has softened, she looks a lot better.”
Verdict: Looking good – but don’t go overboard.
JORDAN
Barbie-like Jordan readily admits she’s had countless breast surgeries, her lips inflated like tyres, her teeth capped and whitened, and a nose job. And she’s happy to keep on keeping on. “This is a girl that looks better without make-up, but in her ‘role’ she is beginning to age with jowls forming and grotesque lips. I’d like to see her add some weight and lose some bosom,” says Dr Caswell.
Verdict: A cartoon character
SHARON STONE
Sharon consistently denies she’s had surgery, despite her fresh and taut appearance at 52. She claims she has had “no lifting, no Botox, no injectables”, but Dr Caswell thinks she may have had laser skin surgery, perhaps a thread or brow lift and some subtle fillers.”
Verdict: God bless Mother Nature
VICTORIA BECKHAM
Remember the days of the Spice Girls when Posh Spice was infinitely rounder? Now her boob job looks like two grapefruits stuck on a bony chest, and her facial expression seems to be frozen with an overly-Botoxed forehead, a chiselled nose and super-inflated lips. “She looks like a walking lollypop and needs to add 5kg and the bosom will look better,” says Dr Caswell. “I think her cheeks are part of the weight loss but the lips are definitely using fillers.”
Verdict: Find another hobby
JOCELYN WILDENSTEIN
A walking cosmetic surgery freak show, Jocelyn had reportedly paid four million dollars to achieve her bizarre feline looks. No wonder she’s dubbed the Beast of Wildenstein. “A tragedy in all areas – it would never happen in Australia,” says Dr Caswell.
Verdict: Catastrophe
NICOLETTE SHERIDANBest known for her role as Edie in Desperate Housewives, Nicolette, 48, looks a shadow of her former self, when she starred in Knot’s Landing back in the 80s as the curvaceous blonde vixen Paige Matheson. Her face now takes on a cat-like appearance probably due to a too severe brow lift and extreme blepheroplasty. Says Dr Caswell, “I think she’s had a brow lift that’s a little too tight. If you go too high you can get a startled look. She should investigate cheek fillers to round out her face and reduce the masculine look.”
Verdict: Desperate
