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Beauty Junkies: Inside Our $15 Billion Obsession with Cosmetic Surgery
A star writer for the New York Times Styles section captures the follies, frauds, and fanaticism that fuel the American pursuit of youth and beauty in a wickedly revealing excursion into the burgeoning business of cosmetic enhancement.
Americans are aging faster and getting fatter than any other population on the planet. At the same time, our popular notions of perfect beauty have become so strict it seems even Barbie wouldn’t have a chance of making it into the local beauty pageant.
Aging may be a natural fact of life, but for a growing number of Americans its hallmarks—wrinkles, love handles, jiggling flesh—are seen as obstacles to be conquered on the path to lasting, flawless beauty. In Beauty Junkies Alex Kuczynski, whose sly wit and fearless reporting in the Times has won her fans across the country, delivers a fresh and irresistible look at America's increasingly desperate pursuit of ultimate beauty by any means necessary.
From a group of high-maintenance New York City women who devote themselves to preserving their looks twenty-four hours a day, to a “surgery safari” in South Africa complete with “after” photographs of magically rejuvenated patients posing with wild animals, to a podiatrist's office in Manhattan where a “foot face-lift” provides women with the right fit for their $700 Jimmy Choos, Kuczynski portrays the all-American quest for self-transformation in all its extremes. In New York, lawyers become Botox junkies in an effort to remain poker-faced. In Los Angeles, women of an uncertain age nip and tuck their most private areas, so that every inch of their bodies is as taut as their lifted faces. Across the country, young women graduating from high school receive gifts of breast implants – from their parents.
As medicine and technology stretch the boundaries of biology, Kuczynski asks whether cosmetic surgery might even be part of human evolution, a kind of cosmetic survival of the fittest – or firmest? With incomparable portraits of obsessive patients and the equally obsessed doctors who cater to their dreams, Beauty Junkies examines the hype, the hope, and the questionable ethics surrounding the advent of each new miraculous technique. Lively and entertaining, thought-provoking and disturbing, Beauty Junkies is destined to be one of the most talked-about books of the season.
Americans are aging faster and getting fatter than any other population on the planet. At the same time, our popular notions of perfect beauty have become so strict it seems even Barbie wouldn’t have a chance of making it into the local beauty pageant.
Aging may be a natural fact of life, but for a growing number of Americans its hallmarks—wrinkles, love handles, jiggling flesh—are seen as obstacles to be conquered on the path to lasting, flawless beauty. In Beauty Junkies Alex Kuczynski, whose sly wit and fearless reporting in the Times has won her fans across the country, delivers a fresh and irresistible look at America's increasingly desperate pursuit of ultimate beauty by any means necessary.
From a group of high-maintenance New York City women who devote themselves to preserving their looks twenty-four hours a day, to a “surgery safari” in South Africa complete with “after” photographs of magically rejuvenated patients posing with wild animals, to a podiatrist's office in Manhattan where a “foot face-lift” provides women with the right fit for their $700 Jimmy Choos, Kuczynski portrays the all-American quest for self-transformation in all its extremes. In New York, lawyers become Botox junkies in an effort to remain poker-faced. In Los Angeles, women of an uncertain age nip and tuck their most private areas, so that every inch of their bodies is as taut as their lifted faces. Across the country, young women graduating from high school receive gifts of breast implants – from their parents.
As medicine and technology stretch the boundaries of biology, Kuczynski asks whether cosmetic surgery might even be part of human evolution, a kind of cosmetic survival of the fittest – or firmest? With incomparable portraits of obsessive patients and the equally obsessed doctors who cater to their dreams, Beauty Junkies examines the hype, the hope, and the questionable ethics surrounding the advent of each new miraculous technique. Lively and entertaining, thought-provoking and disturbing, Beauty Junkies is destined to be one of the most talked-about books of the season.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2006
11 people are currently reading
373 people want to read
About the author
Alex Kuczynski
1 book4 followersAlexandra Louise Kuczynski is an American reporter, who has written for the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, and is the author of the award-winning 2006 book Beauty Junkies about the cosmetic surgery industry. The book was translated into ten languages.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews
October 28, 2008
Appealing, well-researched, not very objective account of cosmetic surgery's history and future. While the author is highly intelligent, she seems to live in a rarefied world in which it is assumed that just about every normal person gets cosmetic surgery eventually. I was horrified to read that not only had the author had an eye lift, but her cleaning lady--a "Guatemalan grandmother"--had also had one. So maybe I'm the one living in a rarefied world, because if my friends and neighbors are getting tucks and lifts, they ain't telling me. And they don't have that awful, slightly surprised expression common to people who've had work done on their faces, so I think they are still cosmetic-surgery virgins. :-)
"A reed-slender body is so important in Hollywood and New York that many starlets have begun, on the advice of their personal trainers, taking a steroid called clenbuterol that is used to treat asthma in horses. It is called "clen," for short—as a mere abbreviation but also as a nod to the notion that being smaller, being skinnier, ingesting nothing somehow cleanses a girl, makes her better and shinier and just a touch more luminescent than the rest of us. The steroid, ingested in regular doses over just a few weeks, rewards users with a so-called sample-size figure, a size 2 or smaller—so that the stylists who dress these mini-celebrities can get their clients' clothes for free from designers. . . . Clen can also increase your risk of stroke and heart attack, destroys endurance, and stiffens the heart muscle. In the end, you'll look great. But you might be dead."
"Sports Illustrated, once proudly implant-free, used its first surgically enhanced model in the late 1990s, after a longtime editor (a woman who was opposed to implants on aesthetic grounds) retired. Today, as many as half the women in the annual swimsuit issue . . . have had surgery."
"A reed-slender body is so important in Hollywood and New York that many starlets have begun, on the advice of their personal trainers, taking a steroid called clenbuterol that is used to treat asthma in horses. It is called "clen," for short—as a mere abbreviation but also as a nod to the notion that being smaller, being skinnier, ingesting nothing somehow cleanses a girl, makes her better and shinier and just a touch more luminescent than the rest of us. The steroid, ingested in regular doses over just a few weeks, rewards users with a so-called sample-size figure, a size 2 or smaller—so that the stylists who dress these mini-celebrities can get their clients' clothes for free from designers. . . . Clen can also increase your risk of stroke and heart attack, destroys endurance, and stiffens the heart muscle. In the end, you'll look great. But you might be dead."
"Sports Illustrated, once proudly implant-free, used its first surgically enhanced model in the late 1990s, after a longtime editor (a woman who was opposed to implants on aesthetic grounds) retired. Today, as many as half the women in the annual swimsuit issue . . . have had surgery."
July 13, 2007
interesting, but kind of fluffy.
July 8, 2021
My interest waned somewhat towards the last 50 pages or so, but other than that it was a decently engrossing read for a non-fiction.
Alex seems to be standing on the side that discourages cosmetic surgery(not reconstructive plastic surgery) but hers is an interesting perspective because she's actually had some work done herself, too. She knows what it's like to have been gripped by the addictive mentality of those who get cosmetic surgery regularly, whether it's light or more risky procedures. She doesn't tell readers what to do, but delves into the topic through various perspectives: the doctors, patients, industry professionals and salesmen, displaying a multi-faceted and complicated tangle of interests and agendas.
Reading the self-interested motives of some of the professionals she has interviewed re-affirmed my recent realisation that you shouldn't put all your faith in your doctor or a person of authority blindly. Do as much research as possible and verify them, check for any affiliations, and whether your safety is in their best interests.
It was also sad to read about the cosmetic surgery deaths, it's mind-boggling how people would choose to put themselves at risk, that they could've been avoided had they not fallen for the temptations and pressures of society.
Fascinating and eye-opening, Beauty Junkies by Alex Kuczynski educates and reminds us to take a hard look at the extremes we have reached, a wake up call to the shallowness and toxic beliefs that we've already taken to new heights.
Alex seems to be standing on the side that discourages cosmetic surgery(not reconstructive plastic surgery) but hers is an interesting perspective because she's actually had some work done herself, too. She knows what it's like to have been gripped by the addictive mentality of those who get cosmetic surgery regularly, whether it's light or more risky procedures. She doesn't tell readers what to do, but delves into the topic through various perspectives: the doctors, patients, industry professionals and salesmen, displaying a multi-faceted and complicated tangle of interests and agendas.
Reading the self-interested motives of some of the professionals she has interviewed re-affirmed my recent realisation that you shouldn't put all your faith in your doctor or a person of authority blindly. Do as much research as possible and verify them, check for any affiliations, and whether your safety is in their best interests.
It was also sad to read about the cosmetic surgery deaths, it's mind-boggling how people would choose to put themselves at risk, that they could've been avoided had they not fallen for the temptations and pressures of society.
Fascinating and eye-opening, Beauty Junkies by Alex Kuczynski educates and reminds us to take a hard look at the extremes we have reached, a wake up call to the shallowness and toxic beliefs that we've already taken to new heights.
January 5, 2023
Truly enlightening book! The fact that the author herself has had cosmetic surgery really brought an interesting perspective to the topic. Some of the sections about the current legality of cosmetic surgery were a bit dated, but the book is from 2006 so that's to be expected.
January 30, 2012
I found this an interesting and, at times, horrifying, though rarely surprising, read. I expect some of the information is a little outdated now as it was written in 2004 -- new procedures and products have undoubtably come out on the market -- but the concepts are unchanged. There were a couple procedures I wasn't aware of, including cosmetic toe surgery and injecting fat into the soles of the feet to compensate for long-time high-heel use, but for the most part I think I'm pretty current on available surgeries (including those that reshape the vagina or navel and the one required after gastric bypass surgery that removes all the extra skin). I *was* jaw-droppingly surprised to read about the Navy SEAL who had a bullet wound scar created by a plastic surgeon because he was embarrassed that he didn't have any battle scars from his time in the military.
For the bulk of the book, I was generally pleased with the author. She presented things pretty fairly, I thought. She did regularly refer to the "ugly" people in the world, often along with a description of whatever it was that made them so, which sat with me poorly. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised to hear the word tossed around so casually in a book about cosmetic surgery, but I was. I was also initially surprised to learn, as the book progressed, that the author has had quite a bit of cosmetic work done herself -- about $12,000 worth, as I recall, including numerous Botox injections and, later, eyelid surgery and liposuction. I suppose from a journalistic standpoint, this is a good thing as she can speak directly about the process, the thoughts behind the decision to make it, etc. I don't know why it initially sat with me strangely, but it did. (I did have to laugh at her "I'm not obsessed, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not" lead in to describing all the work she elected to have done. And I was not at all sympathetic to what happened with her last lip injection.)
I found parts of the book very sad, and not just reading about the people who were disfigured or killed during or as a result of their surgery. There is, of course, the inherent sadness of how young patients are these days and the strength of the media and social demand for conventional beauty. What struck me most was Mrs. X -- a wealthy man's housewife who has regular procedures and surgeries, so many that they encompass three paragraphs of description/listing. WHen asked by the author if she regretted not having a career, Mrs. X. said no, because she probably would never have been good enough at anything to make a difference. I find that incredibly sad.
(A bit unrelated: I had to stop and put the book down after learning that crematoriums are discouraging the cremation of morbidly obese bodies because "during the process, vast amounts of fat often leak and cause fires outside the cremation device." Ick.)
So, in short, a decent, if disturbing, read.
For the bulk of the book, I was generally pleased with the author. She presented things pretty fairly, I thought. She did regularly refer to the "ugly" people in the world, often along with a description of whatever it was that made them so, which sat with me poorly. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised to hear the word tossed around so casually in a book about cosmetic surgery, but I was. I was also initially surprised to learn, as the book progressed, that the author has had quite a bit of cosmetic work done herself -- about $12,000 worth, as I recall, including numerous Botox injections and, later, eyelid surgery and liposuction. I suppose from a journalistic standpoint, this is a good thing as she can speak directly about the process, the thoughts behind the decision to make it, etc. I don't know why it initially sat with me strangely, but it did. (I did have to laugh at her "I'm not obsessed, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not" lead in to describing all the work she elected to have done. And I was not at all sympathetic to what happened with her last lip injection.)
I found parts of the book very sad, and not just reading about the people who were disfigured or killed during or as a result of their surgery. There is, of course, the inherent sadness of how young patients are these days and the strength of the media and social demand for conventional beauty. What struck me most was Mrs. X -- a wealthy man's housewife who has regular procedures and surgeries, so many that they encompass three paragraphs of description/listing. WHen asked by the author if she regretted not having a career, Mrs. X. said no, because she probably would never have been good enough at anything to make a difference. I find that incredibly sad.
(A bit unrelated: I had to stop and put the book down after learning that crematoriums are discouraging the cremation of morbidly obese bodies because "during the process, vast amounts of fat often leak and cause fires outside the cremation device." Ick.)
So, in short, a decent, if disturbing, read.
April 20, 2022
Mostly fascinating, but in some parts (especially the last chapter), too self-absorbed in preaching the horrors of plastic surgery.
June 30, 2008
Very interesting book. For me, the most interesting parts were the historical precursers to modern-day cosmetic surgery. I know there will always be people trying to find the proverbial fountain of youth, but breast augmentation for a high school graduation gift? Plastic surgery "safaris" to South Africa, where the price is right? What?
February 3, 2020
A haunting and existential exploration of the beauty industry and the lengths to which the ultra-wealthy take to combat aging. Ultimately I am skeptical of Kuczynski's hypothesis that cosmetic surgery will reach economies of scale and ultimately become 'affordable' to the everyday person, but time will tell!
July 8, 2021
there are parts that speak a little too easily from a pov that sees beauty/ugliness as objective; and it is focused on white/cishet beauty; but fascinating & cool info overall, esp. "beauty surgery safaris" & the author's personal experience with cosmetic surgery
March 21, 2022
Interesting read, but a bit dated. I liked how the author compared her own forays into cosmetic enhancements to how plastic surgery has changed over the years. It was especially interesting to learn about some of the ways different procedures were born.
For example, widespread reconstructive plastic surgery arose from treating soliders' injuries after WWI. As medicine advanced, soldiers didn't die from their injuries as quickly as they once did. The rate of death during wartime has continually decreased over time - in WWII, 30% of soldiers died from war-related injuries. In Vietnam, 24%. And despite how much destructive weapons have become, the mortality rate for Iraq and Afghanistan was 10%.
The first nose jobs date back to 600BC when it was a common punishment to cut off people's noses for crimes; the first reconstructions were done with tissue from the cheek. In the 1500s, Gaspare Tagliacozzi - known as the father of plastic surgery as he used modern anatomical medical knowledge alongside his surgical skills - took the nose job a step further. There was much unrest in Bologna at the time, and Tagliacozzi saw many nose injuries from duels, skirmishes, and assaults. He used skin from the patient's upper, inner arm by creating a deep incision in the arm and then placing dressings inside the wound to keep it open. The patient would then have their nose bandaged to their arm (sounds so uncomfortable!) until the scar tissue from the arm would start to grow onto the nose wound. It would eventually be separated and then there would be several more surgeries to shape the tissue into a nose-like structure. Since the new proboscis was made of scar tissue which doesn't have a full supply of blood vessels, they tended to stiffen in cold weather and hard sneeze could propel them right off the patient's face. !!
Plastic surgery eventually shifted from reconstruction to cosmetic. There was an interesting discussion about how cosmetic surgery is so at odds with the traditional healthcare model provided by doctors with insurance companies as the middleman and arbiter of what is considered medically necessary and how much they will pay for various tests, treatments, etc. Since cosmetic surgery isn't covered by insurance, the market tends to be very transparent as far as pricing goes. The industry's growth has been aided by bureaucracy of healthcare, allowing surgeons to practice more freely and often for more money.
Overall, an interesting and informative read though the book is a bit old.
For example, widespread reconstructive plastic surgery arose from treating soliders' injuries after WWI. As medicine advanced, soldiers didn't die from their injuries as quickly as they once did. The rate of death during wartime has continually decreased over time - in WWII, 30% of soldiers died from war-related injuries. In Vietnam, 24%. And despite how much destructive weapons have become, the mortality rate for Iraq and Afghanistan was 10%.
The first nose jobs date back to 600BC when it was a common punishment to cut off people's noses for crimes; the first reconstructions were done with tissue from the cheek. In the 1500s, Gaspare Tagliacozzi - known as the father of plastic surgery as he used modern anatomical medical knowledge alongside his surgical skills - took the nose job a step further. There was much unrest in Bologna at the time, and Tagliacozzi saw many nose injuries from duels, skirmishes, and assaults. He used skin from the patient's upper, inner arm by creating a deep incision in the arm and then placing dressings inside the wound to keep it open. The patient would then have their nose bandaged to their arm (sounds so uncomfortable!) until the scar tissue from the arm would start to grow onto the nose wound. It would eventually be separated and then there would be several more surgeries to shape the tissue into a nose-like structure. Since the new proboscis was made of scar tissue which doesn't have a full supply of blood vessels, they tended to stiffen in cold weather and hard sneeze could propel them right off the patient's face. !!
Plastic surgery eventually shifted from reconstruction to cosmetic. There was an interesting discussion about how cosmetic surgery is so at odds with the traditional healthcare model provided by doctors with insurance companies as the middleman and arbiter of what is considered medically necessary and how much they will pay for various tests, treatments, etc. Since cosmetic surgery isn't covered by insurance, the market tends to be very transparent as far as pricing goes. The industry's growth has been aided by bureaucracy of healthcare, allowing surgeons to practice more freely and often for more money.
Overall, an interesting and informative read though the book is a bit old.
December 2, 2025
I should have looked at the copyright date before reading, but I’m guessing the situation has not changed much in the intervening 20 years. I leaving off one star in case it has.
The book is not just a statement of facts, as shocking as they are. The author shares her personal story and takes a not so equivocal stand. It makes me see the issue clearly, and I see myself as part of the problem. For every bad wig, obvious facelift or excessive boob job I abhor, there are no doubt plenty of good cosmetic results that I admire, unaware of how artificial those results are. Too much, and above most else appearance gets my attention.
It’s only when we can stop valuing youth and beauty above character and accomplishments that we can truly progress and reach our full potential as human beings.
The book is not just a statement of facts, as shocking as they are. The author shares her personal story and takes a not so equivocal stand. It makes me see the issue clearly, and I see myself as part of the problem. For every bad wig, obvious facelift or excessive boob job I abhor, there are no doubt plenty of good cosmetic results that I admire, unaware of how artificial those results are. Too much, and above most else appearance gets my attention.
It’s only when we can stop valuing youth and beauty above character and accomplishments that we can truly progress and reach our full potential as human beings.
August 23, 2023
I read this because I was interested in learning how the cosmetic surgery industry came to be so gigantic. Lots of good sources were used and I found it to be thorough for its time. Unfortunately all statistics are dated now, considering it's 2023. I still think Alex does a good job combining her personal and professional experiences with the industry.
December 31, 2020
Excellent read. Wishing for an updated edition as it’s quite out of date now.
April 5, 2021
Absolutely loved it. Entertaining, informative, and so insightful. I really enjoyed every page.
December 11, 2021
Revealed a lot about the world of plastic surgery and profit. Hope we reevaluate our beauty standards soon.
Read
December 8, 2022had to read for a final paper at uni
July 26, 2025
Coming out of a sex and the city obsession, this is exactly what I needed.
March 23, 2008
Women who get foot facelifts to be able to wear their $500 Jimmy Choo shoes. Men who lie to several doctors in order to make sure they get Botox shots every eight weeks. Young women modelling themselves on porn stars. People willingly having themselves injected with corpse flesh and collagen derived from the stem cells of an infant’s foreskin to get Angelina Jolie-like lips. Makeover subjects who all end up looking the same, conforming to the same dull beauty ideal. Bel Air wives who spend all day looking after their own bodies. Women who pose topless at websites in order to earn money for breast implants. Dentists who insist that they, too, are entitled to perform plastic surgery so as to be able to cash in on the beauty fad. Quacks selling bootleg ‘Botox’ that ends up ruining several people’s lives. These are just a few of the people described in Beauty Junkies, a look at America’s $15 billion cosmetic surgery industry by New York Times journalist Alex Kuczynski, herself a former beauty junkie who needed a pretty harsh wake-up call to realise that maybe, maybe, she and several million Americans were taking their obsession with looking good a bit too far.
Kuczynski quotes some staggering figures to prove that America is well and truly obsessed with cosmetic surgery. She cites famous and less famous surgeons, talks to extreme beauty junkies as well as ‘regular’ people undergoing surgery, describes mind-boggling new beautification techniques and demonstrates quite ably that in today’s America, looks are everything, to the point where girls do not want to be good – just look good. Needless to say, much of the book focuses on extremes, but even so, one gets the feeling that these extremes might one day become normal – that they’re harbingers of what is to come for America as well as the rest of the world. It’s a scary thought.
What I enjoyed most about the book was the chapter in which Kuczynski traces the historical origins of plastic surgery, in an age when it had nothing to do with getting bigger boobs, but everything with being made somewhat socially acceptable. Kuczynski describes sixteenth-century nose jobs which were awfully uncomfortable to the patients and frequently resulted in noses falling off in cold weather, disastrous late-nineteenth-century attempts to fill facial lines, and early-twentieth-century techniques to restore the faces of WWI soldiers who had had their jaws blown off in combat. It’s fascinating stuff and I wish she had devoted a bit more attention to it. Instead, however, she very quickly takes us to the present day, describing all manner of obsessions, excesses and nasty experiences (including a few of her own) to convince us that things have got a little out of hand. Well, we knew that, didn’t we?
My main problem with Beauty Junkies is that it is incoherent and unfocused. Kuczynski has some interesting, well-researched stories to tell, and she undeniably has an easy-to-read writing style, but the way the stories are linked together is not particularly smooth. It is clear the book started out as a collection of newspaper articles rather than as a scholarly endeavour, making it rather less successful as an in-depth analysis of a cultural phenomenon. Furthermore, it seems Kuczynski cannot make up her mind as to whether the book is to be about herself or not. She brings up her own experiences far too many times for Beauty Junkies to be an objective read, but too few times to make it a proper memoir. Instead it’s a rather curious mix of research, gossip and ego-babble – definitely interesting, but not as revealing and effective as it could and should have been.
Kuczynski quotes some staggering figures to prove that America is well and truly obsessed with cosmetic surgery. She cites famous and less famous surgeons, talks to extreme beauty junkies as well as ‘regular’ people undergoing surgery, describes mind-boggling new beautification techniques and demonstrates quite ably that in today’s America, looks are everything, to the point where girls do not want to be good – just look good. Needless to say, much of the book focuses on extremes, but even so, one gets the feeling that these extremes might one day become normal – that they’re harbingers of what is to come for America as well as the rest of the world. It’s a scary thought.
What I enjoyed most about the book was the chapter in which Kuczynski traces the historical origins of plastic surgery, in an age when it had nothing to do with getting bigger boobs, but everything with being made somewhat socially acceptable. Kuczynski describes sixteenth-century nose jobs which were awfully uncomfortable to the patients and frequently resulted in noses falling off in cold weather, disastrous late-nineteenth-century attempts to fill facial lines, and early-twentieth-century techniques to restore the faces of WWI soldiers who had had their jaws blown off in combat. It’s fascinating stuff and I wish she had devoted a bit more attention to it. Instead, however, she very quickly takes us to the present day, describing all manner of obsessions, excesses and nasty experiences (including a few of her own) to convince us that things have got a little out of hand. Well, we knew that, didn’t we?
My main problem with Beauty Junkies is that it is incoherent and unfocused. Kuczynski has some interesting, well-researched stories to tell, and she undeniably has an easy-to-read writing style, but the way the stories are linked together is not particularly smooth. It is clear the book started out as a collection of newspaper articles rather than as a scholarly endeavour, making it rather less successful as an in-depth analysis of a cultural phenomenon. Furthermore, it seems Kuczynski cannot make up her mind as to whether the book is to be about herself or not. She brings up her own experiences far too many times for Beauty Junkies to be an objective read, but too few times to make it a proper memoir. Instead it’s a rather curious mix of research, gossip and ego-babble – definitely interesting, but not as revealing and effective as it could and should have been.
July 30, 2007
Beauty Junkies, by Alex Kuczynski, gives us the history of plastic and cosmetic surgery, the charlatans, the risks, the popularity especially in the U.S. and its ridiculous extremes. The story is told deftly, with humor and a sense of veritas: the author herself had undergone several procedures, including one that had the unintended effect of swelling her mouth to grotesque proportions (a severe response and fortunately for her, a temporary one). This last experience compelled her to wean herself from her growing obsession with cosmetic surgery and procedures.
I’ve never been a fan of purely cosmetic surgery or injections. If it’s not broken, no need to operate on it or stick a needle in it (yeh, yeh, I’m for tattoos, but big difference between a little ink and a dangerous toxin). The thought of having foreign objects stuffed under my skin, especially since they can burst, harden, leak and migrate – just to fill someone’s aesthetic profile – pretty much disgusts me. Ditto, shots in the forehead or other places on the face, forceable Hoovering of fat from one’s rear-end, and the cutting and stretching of facial skin. I find it disturbing and ridiculous that younger and younger women are opting for procedures. I mean, it’s positively asshatted of parents to give their daughter a gift of new boobs for graduation.
Now, although this trend of surgical change doesn’t only apply to females, it’s with the females that it is most prevalent and to me, most offensive: to change oneself into the porn star mold (i.e., sexual object), to reduce one’s features so the result is a person indistinguishable from scores of other blandly appealing “beauties” (i.e., loss of that which makes us unique) or to chase youth as if it were the only thing worth having. We’ve come so far as women, only to reduce our efforts - by drastic and dangerous means - to, well, attracting men.
It’s sad that the inner selves of these people – intellect, creativity, personality, achievement – is so neglected and disparaged – in order to maintain a superficial and ultimately impermanent illusion. Ms. Kuczynski, in fact, discusses a woman for whom her appearance – and all the supporting procedures – is ALL she does with her time and money. This book is a cautionary tale, and an honest and entertaining – if disheartening – read.
I’ve never been a fan of purely cosmetic surgery or injections. If it’s not broken, no need to operate on it or stick a needle in it (yeh, yeh, I’m for tattoos, but big difference between a little ink and a dangerous toxin). The thought of having foreign objects stuffed under my skin, especially since they can burst, harden, leak and migrate – just to fill someone’s aesthetic profile – pretty much disgusts me. Ditto, shots in the forehead or other places on the face, forceable Hoovering of fat from one’s rear-end, and the cutting and stretching of facial skin. I find it disturbing and ridiculous that younger and younger women are opting for procedures. I mean, it’s positively asshatted of parents to give their daughter a gift of new boobs for graduation.
Now, although this trend of surgical change doesn’t only apply to females, it’s with the females that it is most prevalent and to me, most offensive: to change oneself into the porn star mold (i.e., sexual object), to reduce one’s features so the result is a person indistinguishable from scores of other blandly appealing “beauties” (i.e., loss of that which makes us unique) or to chase youth as if it were the only thing worth having. We’ve come so far as women, only to reduce our efforts - by drastic and dangerous means - to, well, attracting men.
It’s sad that the inner selves of these people – intellect, creativity, personality, achievement – is so neglected and disparaged – in order to maintain a superficial and ultimately impermanent illusion. Ms. Kuczynski, in fact, discusses a woman for whom her appearance – and all the supporting procedures – is ALL she does with her time and money. This book is a cautionary tale, and an honest and entertaining – if disheartening – read.
October 18, 2009
After reading this book, I came away with the impression that Alex Kuczynski may well be absolutely insufferable to be around. She writes this book from the lofty balcony of judgment about the women (and they are mostly women) who have vaginal rejuvenation surgery, yet then admits to having an amazing number of procedures herself (though not that particular one). And what type of world does she live in? After her surgery to correct her "puffy" upper eyelids, her cleaning lady likes the results so much that she has the same surgery. Her CLEANING LADY. What the hell? Where is it that cleaning people can afford expensive elective surgery when most people I know who have cleaned houses can't even afford health insurance for themselves for, you know, REAL illnesses?
So, I did enjoy my own seat from my moral high ground - when she asks, "[is:] it wrong to pay my mortgage late so I can get some Botox?", I am shouting to myself, "How can you even ask such a question?". But. I dog-eared two pages in the book. One was the above quote, but one was the page when Kuczynski gives the list of things that it is important to look for in a plastic surgeon. You know, just in case. Damn, that fall from the moral high ground is a looooong one.
At the end of the book, Kuczynski has sworn off additional procedures. However, it's worth noting that she wrote this book when in her mid-30s, and I'm guessing it's quite surprising that she had as many procedures as she did before age 40. I'm guessing that when the seemingly-shallow Kuczynski sees her face at 45, she'll be right back in her doctor's office. But will she see me there?
So, I did enjoy my own seat from my moral high ground - when she asks, "[is:] it wrong to pay my mortgage late so I can get some Botox?", I am shouting to myself, "How can you even ask such a question?". But. I dog-eared two pages in the book. One was the above quote, but one was the page when Kuczynski gives the list of things that it is important to look for in a plastic surgeon. You know, just in case. Damn, that fall from the moral high ground is a looooong one.
At the end of the book, Kuczynski has sworn off additional procedures. However, it's worth noting that she wrote this book when in her mid-30s, and I'm guessing it's quite surprising that she had as many procedures as she did before age 40. I'm guessing that when the seemingly-shallow Kuczynski sees her face at 45, she'll be right back in her doctor's office. But will she see me there?
July 14, 2011
I am really, really starting to appreciate nonfiction. (=
Much like how I think that aspiring young actors would benefit from reading Secrets of My Hollywood Life and its subsequent series, it is imperative that anyone who is even remotely curious about cosmetic surgery (which, as I learned, is NOT the same as plastic surgery) should take the time to read this fascinating, horrifying, brutally sad commentary/memoir on what beauty has become in American society.
My heart ached many times over as I read accounts of men and women who strive for external validation of personal significance and worth-- some of whom died in search of that fleeting vanity. The author herself, a New York Times reporter, shows some steel in her willingness to incriminate herself as a former "beauty junkie" to serve as a warning to all of us who are ignorant of what it is really like.
Alex Kuczynski has done to the allure of plastic surgery what Lori Gottlieb did to the myth of "not settling" in her book Marry Him: The Case for Settling for Mr. Good Enough: exposing the misconceptions, the ugly truth, and the lies that we've come to believe. Bravo.
Much like how I think that aspiring young actors would benefit from reading Secrets of My Hollywood Life and its subsequent series, it is imperative that anyone who is even remotely curious about cosmetic surgery (which, as I learned, is NOT the same as plastic surgery) should take the time to read this fascinating, horrifying, brutally sad commentary/memoir on what beauty has become in American society.
My heart ached many times over as I read accounts of men and women who strive for external validation of personal significance and worth-- some of whom died in search of that fleeting vanity. The author herself, a New York Times reporter, shows some steel in her willingness to incriminate herself as a former "beauty junkie" to serve as a warning to all of us who are ignorant of what it is really like.
Alex Kuczynski has done to the allure of plastic surgery what Lori Gottlieb did to the myth of "not settling" in her book Marry Him: The Case for Settling for Mr. Good Enough: exposing the misconceptions, the ugly truth, and the lies that we've come to believe. Bravo.
December 16, 2009
Sastisfies the craving for voyuerism.
A podiatrist shortens toes so her clients can fit into Jimmy Choos, and a lawyer who's argued before the Supreme Court routinely lies to a succession of doctors to feed his Botox habit. As this depressing survey of a global beauty business rooted in self-hatred and a fear of aging demonstrates, an unfortunate few are literally dying to be pretty: the Nigerian first lady expired after liposuction and a tummy tuck, and Olivia Goldsmith, whose novels lampooned middle-aged women afraid to look their age, succumbed during a chin tuck. New York Times reporter Kuczynski has attitude to spare as she outs Sarah Jessica Parker and Nicole Kidman as probable Botox users, and assesses the "traumatized" naked body of a litigator who's showing off the results of a total body lift after gastric-bypass surgery: "to be honest and brutal and bitchy, she doesn't look that great." A canny and witty guide to the excesses of a conformist society with more money than sense,
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
A podiatrist shortens toes so her clients can fit into Jimmy Choos, and a lawyer who's argued before the Supreme Court routinely lies to a succession of doctors to feed his Botox habit. As this depressing survey of a global beauty business rooted in self-hatred and a fear of aging demonstrates, an unfortunate few are literally dying to be pretty: the Nigerian first lady expired after liposuction and a tummy tuck, and Olivia Goldsmith, whose novels lampooned middle-aged women afraid to look their age, succumbed during a chin tuck. New York Times reporter Kuczynski has attitude to spare as she outs Sarah Jessica Parker and Nicole Kidman as probable Botox users, and assesses the "traumatized" naked body of a litigator who's showing off the results of a total body lift after gastric-bypass surgery: "to be honest and brutal and bitchy, she doesn't look that great." A canny and witty guide to the excesses of a conformist society with more money than sense,
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
March 1, 2008
This investigation of the modern obsession of cosmetic surgery reads like part magazine article, part personal blog. Kuczynski, a New York Times reporter specializing in all things beauty, is immersed in the world of Botox and breast augmentations ('BA's as they are called by the cognoscenti'). She interviews both doctors and patients, focusing mostly on the wealthy inhabitants of L.A. and the Upper East Side of New York (duh, only the wealthy can afford this obsession). Both share the triumph or tribulation plastic surgery may bring (e.g über-hotness, death). Kuczynski shares her personal experience of "addiction to and recovery from" cosmetic procedures, as well. Nothing too shocking for the everyday reader of Cosmopolitan, though I was surprised to learn the average BA costs only $3,437. After reading this book, I'm quite grateful not to be part of a subculture that mandates lipo and microdermabrasion. At least not yet, anyway.
August 9, 2007
Why 5 stars? Although the writing is funny and entertaining, what really cinched the deal for me was the fact that most of the women in this book...
apparently live around my high school. Am I surprised? No, not really - I made/make fun of them all the time. It just scares the bajeezus out of me realizing that the most relentless of my caricatures has not captured the full level of vanity (or neurosis) of some of these, well, beauty junkies.
Reading this in conjunction with "Food Fight" = one helluva scary portrayal of modern day America.
apparently live around my high school. Am I surprised? No, not really - I made/make fun of them all the time. It just scares the bajeezus out of me realizing that the most relentless of my caricatures has not captured the full level of vanity (or neurosis) of some of these, well, beauty junkies.
Reading this in conjunction with "Food Fight" = one helluva scary portrayal of modern day America.
December 29, 2010
An insightful look at the fixation Americans have with not just youth, but also maintaining an idealized, perfected, appearance. The author demonstrates the toll this quest takes and lengths people will go to in order to create a physical image that they think fits them better than what they have and how often this quest never ends. Cosmetic surgery is not just about combating the effects of again, of course; it is also about externalizing one's inner image or trying to create an image that camouflages perceived defects in character, personality, life-style, etc.
September 7, 2008
Before reading this, I was naive to all the varieties of cosmetic surgery and to the billions of dollars American's spend annually for things like collagen injections for feet so they better withstand the pounding shock of high heels etc. Kuczynski is an intelligent blunt writer isn't afraid to try a number of these tactics on herself and she drags the reader right along with her. It's full of interviews with patients, doctors, and throws out a number of celebrity examples when explaining the results of these surgeries.
October 5, 2008
This was pretty good. The author uses her first-hand experience with plastic surgery to figure out why it's so popular. I must admit that the author admitting to Botox injections and liposuction made me feel, well, a bit morally superior to her; I was mostly battling with my arrogance while I read it (an advance reader's copy from the bookstore I worked at), and that's more of what I remember than any facts from the book. I mailed my mom a copy when she threatened to get a face lift and to my relief she decided against it.
January 22, 2009
This is a fascinating book. I appreciate that she gives detailed information on how to judge the credentials of your potential plastic surgeon. These are the things that I liked about this book: The writer is a reporter and has a skeptical, thorough and observant eye, she is also seduced by the idea of looking young and beautiful, tries some of these procedures herself and shares her experiences and feelings with us. In the past four years I have considered much of this myself, tried some of it and have been thinking about more. I totally appreciate her input.
April 9, 2016
3.5 stars
In this book, the author takes a look at the beauty industry. More specifically, she looks at cosmetic surgery.
I'm not sure why I decided to read this book, but I added it to my tbr quite some time ago. I've never had nor do I ever intend to get any type of cosmetic surgery (plastic surgery – if necessary – sure). However, this was kind of interesting. I especially liked the chapter the author talks about her own cosmetic surgery and how it might have become an addiction for her, until she had a major issue with one of the procedures.
In this book, the author takes a look at the beauty industry. More specifically, she looks at cosmetic surgery.
I'm not sure why I decided to read this book, but I added it to my tbr quite some time ago. I've never had nor do I ever intend to get any type of cosmetic surgery (plastic surgery – if necessary – sure). However, this was kind of interesting. I especially liked the chapter the author talks about her own cosmetic surgery and how it might have become an addiction for her, until she had a major issue with one of the procedures.
March 18, 2023
An interesting and in some places, chilling, read.
A decade after it was first published there are a couple of points where this book is dated*, however it is still a very good, informative read about the history of cosmetic/plastic surgery as well as the author's personal experiences.
*(the author writes that she had to have a friend purchase Hyaluronic acid for her in Europe and smuggle it into the USA - 10 years later I am in Nz and have a bottle of it on the dressing table. 10 years ago the American aesthetic was apparently all about "tits on sticks" - now we have butt implants)
A decade after it was first published there are a couple of points where this book is dated*, however it is still a very good, informative read about the history of cosmetic/plastic surgery as well as the author's personal experiences.
*(the author writes that she had to have a friend purchase Hyaluronic acid for her in Europe and smuggle it into the USA - 10 years later I am in Nz and have a bottle of it on the dressing table. 10 years ago the American aesthetic was apparently all about "tits on sticks" - now we have butt implants)
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