Related post: This is the first of two posts in which local doctors respond to Heidi Montag’s day-long plastic surgeries.

JUST SAY NO

The news of Heidi Montag’s day-long plastic surgeries aggravates women’s self-image problems, local doctors say.

The doctors were responding to a statement by plastic surgeon Dr. Frank Ryan that women benefit from publicity about the surgeries because it teaches them the extent of Hollywood actresses’ reliance on plastic surgery. The reality-TV actress had 10 procedures ranging from Botox to browlift and from liposuction to chin reduction during an operation that lasted 7 1/2 hours.

As reported in the blog post “Heidi Montag surgeries help women, doc says,” Ryan told People magazine that the Hollywood myth that celebrities look good simply because of diet and exercise contributes to women’s low self-regard. Ryan is seeking to dispel that myth, which “perpetuates body dysmorphic disorder, a condition where a person’s perception of how they look is drastically off base,” American Health and Beauty reported.

Dermatologic surgeon Dr. David Sire of Fullerton challenged Ryan’s position. “Body dysmorphic disorder is a serious and under-diagnosed psychological disorder” that the Heidi Montag surgeries make worse, he said.

“The fact that this may be a prevalent idea in Hollywood merely reinforces the concept that it is OK to perform plastic surgery for perceived physical non-problems to satisfy a psychological problem caused by a distorted self image,” Sire said. “The individual goes through life looking for physical perfection to satisfy a psychological problem which cannot be helped by multiple surgeries. We as surgeons are not helping our patients by performing surgery on these people.”

Doctors should refuse to operate on such patients, said plastic surgeon Dr. Val Lambros of Newport Beach, although he admitted the effect of that refusal would be minimal. He said:

Sometimes giving a person what she wants isn’t the best thing for that person as very few people have an objective idea of how they look. Joan Rivers frequently goes on Larry King and says she looks great — a matter of opinion that many people would disagree with.

People who get multiple procedures done young frequently don’t know when to stop and wind up looking very strange by the time they get into their 40s. I see it all the time. The frightening thing is that they, like Joan Rivers, think they look great. Scary.

If a doctor tells them to stop, they just find someone else to do their surgery.

Plastic surgeon Dr. John Di Saia of San Clemente and Huntington Beach said Ryan’s statements to People magazine were self-promotion rather than charitable.

“I need to stop laughing,” he said. “Dr. Ryan, please. … The reason he did the People piece is that it was for People magazine. Being perceived as a ‘firebrand’ in a national magazine promotes his practice in a massive way. He is not doing a public service announcement or anything. ”

Heidi Montag posts:

Heidi Montag surgeries hurt women, docs say is a post from: In Your Face

Photo: Above, Penelope Cruz in 2007, a time when celebrity watchers speculated that her lips had been plumped up with injected filler. (Getty Images photo)
Below, Helen Mirren at age 62 in 2008. (Photo courtesy of DailyMail.com)
Slide show: “Any plastic surgery for Oscar nominees?”

UNFROZEN CHOSEN

Fans of plastic surgery got little comfort from last week’s lineup of 2010 Oscar nominees.

Of the 10 actresses nominated for their work in leading and supporting roles, none relies much on cosmetic medicine.

In fact, the lineup could be used as evidence that actresses who depend on plastic surgery disqualify themselves from winning an Oscar nomination.

That’s a position similar to statements by nominee Meryl Streep, who has spoken against Botox as an obstacle to expressive acting.

Botox “limits you,” she says. “You can’t play so many different great parts. … Parts of your face don’t move.”

Only a couple of this year’s nominees are even suspected of using injections to modify their appearance:

• Sandra Bullock is sometimes zinged for what looks like excessive reliance on Botox injections.
• Penelope Cruz’s occasionally pouting lips suggest that her dermatologist sometimes wields a syringe with too much gusto. She’s also suspected of having a nose job long ago, but that’s far from proven.

None of the nominees shows signs of overusing plastic surgery, though it’s never certain what procedures celebrities have undergone behind closed doors.

To be sure, the cosmetic medicine site MakeMeHeal.com, which see signs of plastic surgery almost everywhere, speculates that even Botox opponents Meryl Streep and Helen Mirren have had facelifts.

See the slide show “Any plastic surgery for Oscar nominees?” for a rundown on each of the 10 nominated actresses and their attitude toward plastic surgery.

Here are a few samples:

LEADING ACTRESS NOMINEES

Helen Mirren, 64 (pictured at right): “I don’t smoke and I don’t drink too much, exercise occasionally but not ferociously, and I’ve never had any work done.”

Meryl Streep, 60: “[Early in my career], I remember [wondering] if I should get my nose done, just a little. Just to turn it up. I remember sleeping on my face in the pillow … for maybe a year.”

Sandra Bullock, 45: She learned “how to achieve a more voluptuous figure without altering yourself surgically” while working on her “Miss Congeniality” films about beauty pageants, she says. “You can make it work. You can make it bigger or smaller. If you don’t like your hips, go exercise.”

Gabourey Sidibe, 26: On pressures to lose weight, she says, “I still hear it from people who don’t know that they’re pretty close to hurting my feelings, people who care about me, like this one friend. I was eating a light potato chip, and she eyeballed me like I was the most disgusting thing she’d ever seen. She says, ‘Every time you want to put something disgusting in your mouth, think of the designers who won’t make a dress for you because you’re fat.’ ”

Carey Mulligan, 24: She shows no signs having had plastic surgery or of being interested in it.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS NOMINEES

Mo’Nique, 42: When she lost weight two years ago, she denied that it was a result of bariatric surgery.

Vera Farmiga, 36: Two years ago, people suspected that she had had a nose job, but it turned out that what appeared to be nose-job bruises were caused by an accident on the set.

Penelope Cruz, 35: She’s suspected of getting a nose job early in her career, but no celebrity Web sites display before and after photos to prove it. Her lips sometimes look as if they were injected with filler.

Maggie Gyllenhaal, 32: She shows no interest in plastic surgery. She grew up in a Hollywood family “that valued education, intellect and liberal politics over plastic surgery.”

Anna Kendrick, 24: She’s young, with no signs of plastic surgery or speculations about it.

Recent celebrity posts:

Related slide shows:

• ‘Lasting allure of Oscar actresses
• Faces of Helen Mirren
• Meryl’s marvelous mid-life
• Plastic surgery unmasked at Golden Globes
• Botoxed beauties? — Brooke Shields, Jenny McCarthy, many more celebrities

Recent slide shows:

For other celebrity photos, see TOP CELEBRITY SLIDE SHOWS.

Get plastic surgery, forget Oscar? is a post from: In Your Face

Heidi Montag before. Getty Images

Heidi Montag might have achieved her goal of what physical perfection is in her opinion, but the wanna-be pop star has taken a serious hit from the press and public for her extensive plastic surgeries. Will she ever be mega famous?

For now, maybe. Montag has appeared on ABC’s Nightline, Good Morning America, Access Hollywood, made the cover of People magazine, and debuted her new look to her mother on a recent taping of The Hills reality show.

While being a star is her goal, each time she appears in public with her 10 surgeries in 10 hours, the outcry gets worse as Montag struggles to manage the negative publicity.

Montag might be her own worse enemy. Instead of focusing on her crafts, acting and singing, she believes as she tells GMA and Access Hollywood, that sex appeal is what sells. Montag did what she needed to do to take her career to the next level.

She told Billy Bush on Access Hollywood that she’d like to win a Grammy for her recent CD “Superficial”, that by the way sold 700 or so (reports vary) copies its first week.

How she reconciles her makeover with her Christian beliefs, though, has baffled almost everyone.

Heidi Montag after. Access Hollywood

Bush asked her if she has rejected God’s creation. Her reply, “Or maybe God gave me extra because he knew what I would be doing and the career, and blessing me with such a great doctor. “

Adding that  “this has been as much or more of a spiritual transformation as a physical transformation” for her.

She finished the interview saying, “How incredible… we [are] blessed to even have this surgery that we have. “

Does Montag have a clue how to take her career to the next level, or is she waayyy smarter than we think? What’s God got to do with it?

Heidi Montag posts:

Recent slide shows:

Heidi Montag: Spiritual, superficial or smarter than we think? is a post from: In Your Face

Photos: Above, “The Hills” star Heidi Montag before (left) and after (right) her 10 recent plastic surgical procedures. (Photos by Getty Images and courtesy of ABC). Below, Montag before and after her earlier nose job. (Photos courtesy of EntertainmentWise.com.)
Slide show: “Heidi Montag addicted to plastic surgery.”

DISPELLING HOLLYWOOD MYTH

Day-long plastic surgeries aren’t uncommon in Hollywood, says Dr. Frank Ryan, the plastic surgeon who recently performed 10 consecutive cosmetic procedures on reality-TV actress Heidi Montag.

In fact, he says, extensive plastic surgery is the basis of what makes women in Hollywood look as they do. It’s something every woman should know, which is the potential benefit for women from Montag’s surgeries and why he spoke out about them, he says.

He wants to dispel the myth that Hollywood celebrities make themselves look good through diet and exercise alone, he says. That myth contributes to women’s low self-regard. Ryan says it “perpetuates body dysmorphic disorder, a condition where a person’s perception of how they look is drastically off base,” American Health and Beauty reported.

Here’s that Web site’s account of its interview with Ryan:

Dr. Ryan said that the procedure took about seven and a half hours, and about 9-10 hours total under anesthesia. While that may sound like a long time, he maintains that it is not uncommon in plastic surgery, and especially in Hollywood, to have a procedure take that long. The reason it’s controversial, he said, is that the people having all this work done, simply don’t talk about it.

Dr. Ryan went on to say that a part of the reason he agreed to do the People magazine story, knowing that he would come under fire, is that plastic surgery is the reason women in Hollywood look the way they do. He feels that saying the reason women look that way is simply because of diet and exercise perpetuates body dysmorphic disorder, a condition where a person’s perception of how they look is drastically off base. Dr. Ryan believes that letting the world know the truth behind Hollywood’s beauty curtain will help dispel the myth.

Montag underwent these procedures:

1. Mini Browlift
2. Botox for forehead and frown area
3. Nose job revision
4. Fat injections in cheeks, nasolabial fold, and lips
5. Chin reduction
6. Liposuction on neck
7. Ear surgery
8. Breast augmentation revision
9. Liposuction on waist, hips, inner & outer thighs
10. Buttock augmentation

In an interview with Radar Online, Ryan said scheduling 10 plastic surgeries in one day was appropriate. It’s just a surprise to the public because people don’t know the realities of modern plastic surgery in Hollywood, he said.

“In Heidi’s case – in a healthy 23-year-old girl – this was perfectly appropriate and the public is getting used to that or hearing about it for the first time,” Ryan said. “This is what young women and men are doing all the time – you know in terms of procedures together.”

Ryan told ABC News, “I disagree that it is that much plastic surgery. These are little tweaks and things we did. … These were all kind of small things.”

ABC also reported a different viewpoint:

Some hospitals, such as Manhattan Eye and Ear and some medical associations, have specific recommendations against allowing elective plastic surgeries to last more than six hours.

“You’re pushing the envelope there definitely, from a medical point of view, where you’re going to set up complications,” said Dr. Thomas Romo, a plastic surgeon at Lenox Hill Hospital. “And that’s irresponsible from a medical point of view. … My ethics would say that you don’t put your patient at that risk.”

Romo said that statistics show the risks of complications rise after a surgical patient has been under anesthetics for more than six hours. “After seven hours, you’re written up at our hospital,” he said.

Juliette Harris, a spokeswoman for Ryan, issued this statement in response:

“Dr. Frank Ryan adamantly refutes the idea that the decision to perform Ms. Montag’s procedures were in any way unethical or unsafe. Dr. Ryan is one of the most qualified plastic surgeons in the country. Although the media created controversy may make for an ‘interesting’ story, and viewers might disagree with Ms. Montag’s choices, the safety or propriety of the surgery are not and should not be in question.”

Heidi Montag posts:

Recent slide shows:

Heidi Montag surgeries help women, doc says is a post from: In Your Face

Photo: Beyonce Knowles performs at the Grammy Awards. (Photo by Getty Images)

Slide show: “Plastic surgery splits Grammy Awards”

The Grammy Awards on Sunday night were a showcase for competing visions of what cosmetic medicine should do for celebrities — lots, nothing, or nothing yet. This slide show explores those divisions among the stars at the awards ceremony, starting with Beyonce, who won the most awards.

Previous slide shows about singers

• Plastic surgery, Nashville style
• A fresh new face for Madonna
• Stevie Nicks’ beauty from age 28 to 60
• Kellie Pickler breast implants in spotlight
• Styles of Rihanna
• What did Ashlee do?
• Jewel’s teeth and breasts
• Jennifer Hudson’s bright career

Other related slide shows

• Heidi Klum photos through the years, age 25 to age 35
• ‘Botoxed beauties’ slide show

Plastic surgery splits Grammy Awards is a post from: In Your Face

Photo: Above, Beyonce before and after her nose job. (Photos courtesy of Listaholic.com) Below, Lady Gaga before and after her nose job. (Photos courtesy of Good Plastic Surgery)

BY A NOSE

Celebrity nose jobs contributed to the star power of last night’s Grammy awards, starting with Beyonce, who won the most awards. The pair of photos above show her before and after her surgical upgrade.

“Her nose has been thinned to look more elegant,” said plastic surgeon and blogger Dr. Tony Youn. Her nose job “matches her face well, is not overdone, and overall looks great.”

Lady Gaga, who put on memorable performances and took home two awards, has also had a nose job.  Photos at right show her before and after the operation.

“Many that have followed Lady Gaga have noticed the drastic change in the size and shape of her nose,” said the cosmetic medicine Web site MakeMeHeal.com. “Lady Gaga used to have a large, hooked nose and now it is much smaller.”

The Web site Good Plastic Surgery praised her nose job because it “did not try and turn her nose into something it is not (like a small upturned button nose).”

Related slide shows:

• Celebrity nose jobs: Some botched, some beautiful
• So many botched celebrity surgeries
• Stars’ botched plastic surgeries
  
• Plastic surgery, Nashville style
• Plastic surgery tour of ‘Real Housewives of O.C.’

Nose jobs contribute to Grammy Awards is a post from: In Your Face

Heidi Montag seems determined to transition from T.V. personality to pop star. But her January release of ‘Superficial’ that cost $2.2 million out of her own pocket, sold only 700 copies the first week.

Plastic surgery will give her a temporary bump in the media, but is Montag headed in the right direction?

In this slide show, see her evolve from a cute 19-year old ingenue to a 23-year old wanna-be receiving criticism from all sides for her drastic plastic surgery procedures.

CLICK HERE FOR SLIDE SHOW

Heidi Montag addicted to plastic surgery is a post from: In Your Face

Heidi Montag arrives at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards in New York. (AP Photo/Stuart Ramson)

.
In the January issue of People Magazine, Heidi Montag reveals the ten plastic surgery procedures she had done in a single day. And this is not the first time the 23-year-old has gone under the knife — with a rhinoplasty and breast augmentation in 2007.
.

Heidi Montag on the January cover of People Magazine.

.
Her November day-long procedure included a mini brow lift, Botox, another rhinoplasty, fat injections in her cheeks and lips, a chin reduction, liposuction to her neck, ears pinned back, buttocks and another breast augmentation and liposuction to her waist and thighs.

Montag tells People that she finds plastic surgery “so rewarding.” Husband Spencer Pratt is not so sure,  saying, “it was the worst experience of my life. Nobody that loves a loved one should see that.”

Heidi’s celebrity status includes spots on reality shows such as MTV’s ‘The Hills’ and ‘Laguna Beach,’ posing for Playboy and co-authoring a book with Pratt called ‘How to be Famous.’

She said in an interview with Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush, “I feel pretty plastic. It’s still hard for me to chew sometimes and I have to speak very quietly because my jaw and everything–I’m still readjusting to talking.”

Even though she revealed that she almost died following her surgery from too much Demerol, she said the procedures “were worth it.”
.

Montag on Good Morning America. Photo: GMA

.
On a Good Morning American interview, she said childhood teasing has been her primary motivation.

Most alarming is the fact that the 5′4 Montag is not done. “I’m beyond ready to do it again,” she said in an ‘Extra” interview after sharing that ultimately she’d like to take her triple D bra size to a size ‘H” for ‘Heidi’.
.

Heidi Montag goes ‘Superficial’ is a post from: In Your Face

They were  in court  so a real estate investor who won a $1.26 million judgment against them could check out their assets.

Curtin has been the subject of repeated criticism after spending money on a facelift last summer rather than devoting money to easing the couple’s financial problems.

See the full report here: “O.C. Housewife Lynn to bankruptcy court?”

Recent “Real Housewives” posts:

Recent Lynne Curtin posts:

Recent slide shows:

Post-facelift, Real Housewife eyes bankruptcy is a post from: In Your Face

Photos: Above, Jeremy Piven with hair-transplant scar. (Photo courtesy of TMZ) Below, Jeremy Piven with and without toupee. (Photos courtesy of MakeMeHeal.com)

HAIR TODAY

In the past, actor Jeremy Piven, 44, has used toupees to cope with hair loss. (See photos below.)

Recently he adopted a new tactic: hair transplants. The photo above shows a line in his scalp where hair plugs were removed so they could be transplanted higher on his head.

This strip method of hair transplants is common, but an alternative, the Neograft system of Follicular Unit Extraction, or FUE, was approved last year by the Food and Drug Administration.

It automates the process of removing individual hair follicles from different locations, which typically allows hair restoration specialists to collect hair for transplants without creating a visible scar.

Neograft systems are currently available in Los Angeles, Pasadena and at the OC Aesthetics Medical Group in Orange.

Hair transplants aren’t cheap. Filling in a bald spot can cost $5,000.

The actual price will depend on the doctor, the hair-replacement technique used, the extent of hair loss, and the patient’s hair type.

“Although linear harvesting or ‘the strip-method’ is the least expensive way to transplant hair, it can lead to a ‘tell-tale’ donor scar which may be visible from a distance if not covered with enough surrounding hair,” says Dr. Alan Bauman of Boca Raton, Fla.

Piven’s photo above “reveals a particularly wide, … linear donor hair transplant scar,” Bauman says.

Alan Bauman’s advice for bald blogger:

• What a hair transplant could accomplish

Posts about hair transplants:

Recent slide shows:

The photo of Piven “reveals a particulary wide, … linear donor hair transplant scar,” Bauman says.

New tactic in Jeremy Piven hair battle is a post from: In Your Face