Changing Faces

[achtungbaby]

At 18, Saeko Kimura was a shy, sleepy-eyed university student. Until she discovered a secret weapon: if she applied a strip of glue to her eyelids, her eyes became wider, rounder, prettier. "Men noticed me," she says. "I became outgoing. Suddenly, I had a life." Her new looks also landed her part-time work as a hostess in an upmarket bar, where she gets top dollar on a pay scale determined by beauty.

But Kimura lived in fear of discovery, rushing off to the bathroom several times a day to reapply the glue and never daring to visit the beach. And so, at 21, she finds herself in a doctor's office in a Tokyo high-rise, lying on an operating table with her fists nervously clenched. Plastic surgeon Katsuya Takasu breezes in wielding a cartoonishly enormous needle. "This will hurt a little," he says cheerfully. Once the anesthetic is administered, Takasu brandishes another, hooked needle and threads it through Kimura's upper eyelids, creating a permanent crease. He then injects a filler fluid called hyaluronic acid into her nose and chin and pinches them into shape. Takasu inspects his handiwork. "The swelling will go down in a few days," he says. "But even if you went out tonight in Roppongi, you'd be a hit." A nurse hands Kimura a mirror. Though red and puffy, she now has the face she's always dreamed of: big, round eyes, a tall nose, a defined chin. The entire procedure took less than 10 minutes. But Kimura collapses with an ice pack on her face and moans, "Oh, the pain."

full story (http://yellowworld.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=104&mode=thread&order=1&thold=-1)

[wylin]

thats gross why do people do that to them selves god made u this way and this way u should be minus or plus a weight.

i think girls w/ cut eyelids are nasty, and when they first get it and its puffed up they look like goldfish.

the hymen repair surgery is embarassing least be honest w/ ur partner.

[AliBabaIncorporated]

I read somewhere about a guy who tried to divorce his wife cuz he found out she was really ugly before all her plastic surgery. think it was in Japan. i'm kinda in-between on that ... one of the reasons why we're attracted to pretty people is cuz we want them to pass on genes so our kids to be pretty, so they'll have an easier time to attract a mate. (okay, that's kinda circular, but ya know what i mean, hopefully). so plastic surgery is like false advertising - you're putting out signs that your kids will tend to be genetically prettier than they actually will be.

on the other hand, damn, that is one shallow relationship, got all the way to marriage and it was still all about the looks.

[kasia]

i'm still undecided as to whether women get surgery to look more 'white' and the role that the media plays in this.

i'm not completely against plastic surgery--sometimes it can make already-pretty people even prettier. i'm particularly not against it if the person is a model. if it allows him/her to get further in his/her profession, why would it be such a bad thing?

if i do get plastic surgery, i would want to get dimples. i'm hoping i wouldn't have to actually go under the knife. perhaps they can just give me a shot or something to numb the right muscle in my cheeks.

[SunWuKong]

i'm starting to think that there's nothing wrong with plastic surgery. some people say that it's really shallow, but give me a break, everybody is attracted to physical beauty. if you are attracted to really beautiful people, what gives you the right to disrespect people who want to get plastic surgery? what's the difference between "natural" beauty and beauty that was due to plastic surgery? both are skin-deep. should you have more respect for someone who is "naturally" beautiful? i mean you would be giving respect to someone for a quality that is only skin-deep. i don't see why you should exclude those that got plastic surgery.

the bad thing that i see with plastic surgery is that it might make whoever that got it even more reliable on their physical beauty to have a sense of confidence.

[deez nuts]

There's nothing wrong with plastic surgery. But there is something wrong with someone who is addicted to plastic surgery, a la Michael Jackson. Plus the cosmetic surgery aspect of plastic surgery is just one part of the greater picture. The other part of plastic surgery is reconstructive surgery for burn victims, heavily lacerated victims and cancer survivor victims like those that had to undergo a masectomy.



<!--EDIT|Chasiubao_Boy|Aug 8 2002, 06:16 PM-->

[kasia]

yuh, plastic surguery addiction :lol:

i have friends who have gotten b's and then wanted c's. or c's and then wanted d's. i guess we're greedy by nature.

chasiubao boy: is there a danger of getting implants and flying in an airplane. can they pop due to the pressure?

[deez nuts]

Originally posted by kasia@Aug 8 2002, 06:56 PM
yuh, plastic surguery addiction :lol:

i have friends who have gotten b's and then wanted c's. or c's and then wanted d's. i guess we're greedy by nature.

chasiubao boy: is there a danger of getting implants and flying in an airplane. can they pop due to the pressure?
Nah, you're chest won't explode on a plane because you have implants.
If that happened there would be a lot of dead Playboy Playmates when they fly out and do their nation wide tours. Or a lot of chest explosions on flights out of L.A. :P

Seriously, I personally haven't heard or read anything like that. But my knowledge on plastic surgery procedures and protocols are minimal since that's not what I'll be specializing in. Although, I think I made the wrong call and I probably meet more hot women if I became a plastic surgeon rather than a surgical oncologist. <_<

[angel nympho]

i dont really have anything against people who do shit to themselves... i know its a huge thing in the korean community, and even MY mom was asking if i wanted her to pay for me to get my eyes done...
i know a lot of people who've done it and they really like the way it turned out... and from what they say, they didn't do it for anybody, just for themselves. i guess anything that helps you boost your confidence is a good thing.

personally, though... i think getting surgery to "americanize" my face is something i wouldnt really want to do. it's actually appealing to asian guys to see asian girls with like... their eyelids done or their cheekbones rearranged (obviously, since i've heard SOME guys in korea are like "ohh, you're only pretty if you get that done" blahblahblah...), but... to white guys, they actually LIKE the asian look. it's ironic, isnt it?

[SunWuKong]

Originally posted by angel nympho@Aug 10 2002, 09:53 PM
since i've heard SOME guys in korea are like "ohh, you're only pretty if you get that done" blahblahblah...
that's messed up

[angel nympho]

Originally posted by SunWuKung@Aug 11 2002, 03:10 AM
Originally posted by angel nympho@Aug 10 2002, 09:53 PM
since i've heard SOME guys in korea are like "ohh, you're only pretty if you get that done" blahblahblah...
that's messed up
You're telling me. I've had visitors from Korea come and say to me... "Oh, you've got a pretty face... If only........." :huh: Uhh, gee thanks.

[SunWuKong]

Originally posted by angel nympho@Aug 10 2002, 10:27 PM
Originally posted by SunWuKung@Aug 11 2002, 03:10 AM
Originally posted by angel nympho@Aug 10 2002, 09:53 PM
since i've heard SOME guys in korea are like "ohh, you're only pretty if you get that done" blahblahblah...
that's messed up
You're telling me. I've had visitors from Korea come and say to me... "Oh, you've got a pretty face... If only........." :huh: Uhh, gee thanks.
wow that's really messed up. it hasn't progressed to that level yet with chinese people. i know that surgery for the most part is still frowned upon, and celebrities still go through great lengths to hide the fact that they had any cosmetic surgery done, if they had any done at all, instead of saying, "well everybody else does it".

[AliBabaIncorporated]

Originally posted by SunWuKung@Aug 11 2002, 02:46 AM
wow that's really messed up. it hasn't progressed to that level yet with chinese people. i know that surgery for the most part is still frowned upon, and celebrities still go through great lengths to hide the fact that they had any cosmetic surgery done, if they had any done at all, instead of saying, "well everybody else does it".
on a vaguely related note ... there's this quote from a
Korea Herald op-ed (http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2002/06/28/200206280004.asp) about two months ago which always cracks me up:

Beyond listening to Korean pop songs and watching Korean TV dramas, a new generation of consumers classified as the "Korea Tribes" in China have been aggressively adopting and emulating Korean lifestyles, ranging from fashion, food and consumption patterns to even plastic surgeries.

(emphasis mine)

[karizma]

>> i heard coco lee got cosmetic surgery =X...

>> plastic surgery is something id never get done. partly because i dont really think its necessary and because i dont think itll make me feel any better about myself.

>> if originally you're unattractive and you get plastic surgery done and people who wouldnt give you the time of day before now are nice to you simply because you look more attractive...would that really make you feel better about yourself? i dont think i would. the fact that the only reason people are even giving me a second look because im cute would always be in the back of my mind.

[Ayers]

Wow, that article was saddening. I didn't realize to what lengths people would go to make themselves look 'beautiful.' One question I had was how trends/fads get started. Back in ancient civilization, the picture of a beautiful woman is much different from today's waifs and chesty DD's. Even Sir Mix-a-lot had a different picture of beauty...

[SunWuKong]

Originally posted by karizma@Aug 11 2002, 09:54 PM
if originally you're unattractive and you get plastic surgery done and people who wouldnt give you the time of day before now are nice to you simply because you look more attractive...would that really make you feel better about yourself? i dont think i would. the fact that the only reason people are even giving me a second look because im cute would always be in the back of my mind.
i'm kind of surprised you haven't learned this yet, but unfortunately, this is exactly how the world works. good looking girls get the attention because simply that they're good looking.

[deez nuts]

Personally, I think plastic surgery has gotten out of hand. But, this is only indicative of how much importance society places on one's looks.

It's kind of sad how fads and trends play a factor in this as well, like Ayers stated. I mean look at the increase in "butt augmentation" surgeries done since the on-set of J-Lo and the buzz around her derriere.

But on the flip side as I stated before I am a big proponent on the use of plastic surgery to boost the self esteem of burn victims, heavily lacerated victims and victims ravaged by cancer. I mean look at the Asian plastic surgeon that stepped up and offered his services for free to a young Asian High School girl, whose face was severely cut up and scarred by a gang of girls wielding box-cutters on a subway, which happened awhile back here in NYC.



<!--EDIT|Chasiubao_Boy|Aug 12 2002, 10:07 PM-->

[strawberry05]

Yeah, I read this article a while back and it was extremely disturbing. It's not like Asian girls especially ones in China don't feel enough pressure to be "perfect" ie skinny and pale like those HK movie stars. It is just crazy what some people will do in order to be "pretty." I mean look at the Singapore actress Andrea DeCruz who took those diet pills and died as a result. I remember when i went to Japan last summer everyone in Tokyo was so dressed up and had a lot of make up on. It was pretty obvious that they had spent a lot of time, effort and energy on their appearance. Even middle-aged people were like that. It was quite jarring from the US. Do you guys think that there is even more pressure in Asia to keep with your appearance/clothes etc?

[SunWuKong]

Originally posted by strawberry05@Aug 13 2002, 01:53 PM
I mean look at the Singapore actress Andrea DeCruz who took those diet pills and died as a result.
actually Andrea deCruz did not die. her boyfriend gave her half of his liver (or gave her something, i forgot) so that she would live. the story was very popular.

[Barbs]

it's considered impolite in taiwan as a woman to go out without makeup. well i'm generalizing but that's sort of the concept. at least that's what a cab driver told my friend and that's what my mom tells me.

i think that it's incumbent upon women to make sure they look presentable before leaving the house. i personally would not leave the house without taking time with my appearance. but that could just be my vanity talking.

professionally, i do feel that after a certain age, women SHOULD wear makeup to project a certain professional, "pulled-together" image lest they look like sallow-faced hags (for those of u that speak chinese, that's a direct translation which somehow, doesn't lose it's flavor in the translation).

okay i just realized i went way off topic...

i don't think there's anythign wrong with minor enhancement surgery.