Cosmetic Surgery: am I Mad?

Just read The Patient Paradox. McCarthy makes the point that when patients become customers all kinds of potential harm ensue.
We can all choose to take pride in our appearance or not. I know you did when you were working - there is a pressure to conform in this context - it is part of creating a professional impression. Particularly if you have to meet clients or something.
Outside of that - or after that - is it pure choice. A woman who has retired can choose. - but those who wish look better can try to keep weight down, do some exercise to tone up the saggy bits and improve posture. It is even possible to do face exercises to tone that up a bit. And make an effort with hair, makeup and clothes.
But I am absolutely of the view that it should be a choice.

Taking pride in my appearance has never, and will never, involve doing what many people see as essential (high heels, make-up, wearing what other people wear, etc). It's perfectly possible to look smart without being 'fashionable' or giving a toss what the "beauty gurus" say. It's all bullshit.

I should add that in my opinion a lot of people who think they look smart, don't.

Greatnan, Some years there was a lot of scientific interest in the 'super young' people of all ages who looked (naturally) younger than they were. It had a lot of benefits, these people, at all ages seemed to be fitter, healthier and had better mental health.

DD seriously injured her right arm in a road accident last year and had to have extensive reconstructive and plastic surgery. Seeing the skill of the surgeons in saving her from serious disability, and the work they did on other injured people in the ward, the idea that these same surgeons made a living also from the, mainly, women, who just wanted bigger breasts or fewer wrinkles made me feel physically sick. She still needs further surgery and chooses to wear a tubigrip over the scar when swimming because it is still unsightly. Out of the pool she needs to wear a pressure garment on it. Another couple of years and her arm will still be scarred but fit to be seen. That is what plastic surgery is for, not vanity.

None of these people look better in their 'after' pics

YIKES baubles! How scary.

Gettingonabit if you think you are "getting on a bit" the age" of 53 then heaven help the rest of us! If you are worried about how you look now. How are you going to feel about yourself in 10 or 20 yrs time?

It worries me that you you seem to be setting yourself up to be dissatisfied with your appearance. Give yourself a break here, or you will just lower your self confidence by worrying about how you look.

Presenting yourself as a really confident person is really more important than how many lines you think you have.

I agree withgrannyknot about how people look after cosmetic surgery.
From images I have seen Botox seems to leave people looking permanently surprised and with expressionless faces.
Dont get carried away with the advertisments you see, whatever you do to your face the skin on your neck and arms will still sag. It a process of ageing.
The problem is the media perception that women should not look like this.

Look at pictures of June Whitfield who is nearly 87. She is not without a few lines but dresses very elegantly in keeping with her age, she makes no attempts at mutton dressed as lamb. She is a fantastic and very natural looking woman for her age, and does not seem to be worried about being or looking 87.

www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2011/dec/11/june-whitfield-interview

Some 'right frights' there Baubles....another 20 minutes of my life wasted! Must not waste any more time! .
Is a a after a facelift????

Gosh, that was depressing baubles.

Most of them were quite decent-looking before they mucked about with what appears more and more just to be a fashion fad. Idiots. I'm not sorry if that seems scornful – it is scornful.

I think taking a pride in our appearance does not in itself mean being dissatisfied with it, greatnan. One can be proud of the wrinkles (one for each sleepless night caused by the DC I always say) and proud of the character in our faces. Crimson - yes you do have IMHO lovely fine hair - I thought it looked beautiful. We are so often dissatisfied with our own appearance but reflect on the people we truly respect and admire - is it their figure/smooth face/unsaggy chin that we think of first? No, it is the person inside. Too many people think that they can change who they are by looking "10 Years Younger" or any other makeover - you know what? It's still you.
So I would say save your money if you are considering cosmetic surgery - look at the disasters as an awful warning and look inside yourself for who you want to be.

flicketyb - has your daughter ever watched Amanda Redman in New Tricks. I think she is an incredibly good looking older woman who is not afraid to let us see a very badly scarred arm on TV. Good on her, I say.
(pity about the silly heels that stop her chasing criminals, but otherwise she plays a great character)
And the new series is much less cheesy since the terrible non acting of James Bolan has been replaced by much better acting, and rather attractive Scot. Better scripts as well.

Baubles, those before and after pictures mostly proved one thing: plastic surgery doesn't make one look younger!

Yes, I agree most of those before-and-after shots look like freaks. But there are many women in the public eye who, to my mind, look as if they have had something done but still look fab bexause the results look subtle. I'm convinced Judi Dench has, and I'm convinced Amanda Redman has (to nmame two mentioned on this thread). There are others who look better now than ever - Lulu, Carol Vorderman - and I think they should own up to having been tweaked rather than pretending they "eat well and drink plenty of water" As if!!

gettingonabit I don't see why women in the public eye should own up to having had plastic surgery if they have. Everyone is allowed a bit of privacy, surely.

Lily does admit to having something done but what I'm not sure.

NO-NO-NO it's not just your face other people look at and see, it's the whole package.

missmiddle What? The hands that look as if they are wearing rubber gloves, the wattled neck, the lumpy belly and the crunchy knees? Help!

Right! Displayed on the so-called celeb mag rack in the local shop I spied a picture of the so-called celeb, Katie Price. She had undergone a kings ransoms worth of cosmetic surgery. She is quoted as saying that she is depressed...because "I look like a market trader." I've news for K.P. Market traders look like perfectly normal people...whereas...

I have just read about some research that involved injecting very old mice with the blood of young mice for a month. As a result, apparently, lots of nerve connections were rejuvenated and the older mice's brains perked up. It didn't say anything about them looking better/younger, though.

08:26 message from bags sums up my position too.

I am very wary of working environments that insist on a particular image - all those poor women looking like clones with their suits, high heels, slap - uggh!

mishap that's a bit unfair, there are clones in the 'little-old-lady-with-no-make-up-and-rain-jacket-from-four-seasons-back-and-comfortable-shoes-and-haircut-by-barber' department also! But I agree I wouldn't like to work somewhere that insists on a particular image.

My Nana had skin like tanned leather. Her bottom teeth didn't fit too well. Her hair, thin and lifeless. Her eyes twinkled and her smile was contagious. To me, she was a beauty.

Having had to have invasive surgery on my breasts (cancer) I have absolutely no wish to have any sort of surgery that is non essential. However, a little bit of something cosmetic does seem appealing on a bad day - red veins, wrinkles... But the good days outweigh the bad ones! Happy in my skin at 66!

AND, at my new medical centre, the receptionist asked if I was really over 65!!!!!!!!

Absent- I'm all for privacy. What I mean is that it's a bit hypocritical to deny surgery when it's perfectly obvious, and then claim to be just ageing gracefully.