# Are Cosmetic Procedures Really About Looking Younger? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 18, 2024, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cosmetic-procedures-really-about-looking-younger/1004405 "2024-07-18T03:52:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cosmetic-procedures-really-about-looking-younger/1004405/41 "2024-07-19T01:11:31Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > After she became excessively girly, flirty, and not very interesting any more. To other girls like you. How did her new nose & personality play to the boys? ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cosmetic-procedures-really-about-looking-younger/1004405/42 "2024-07-19T01:15:05Z")
O.k. I guess. I didn’t notice that she had more boys circling her than before. But, yeah, high school boys are shallow! ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cosmetic-procedures-really-about-looking-younger/1004405/43 "2024-07-19T01:15:38Z")
I speculate that adding things (cheek implants, lip filler) don’t age as well as removing things (nose jobs, eye bag removal). ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cosmetic-procedures-really-about-looking-younger/1004405/44 "2024-07-19T01:16:26Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > I’ve heard the saying > “When contemplating plastic surgery your two choices are clear. Do you want to look old or do you want to look old and weird.” The ideal is to do it well before you’re old. So the aphorism is more completely > Do you want to > > 1. Look your current appearance and age now and old later OR > 2. Look better / sexier / younger now in exchange for old _and_ weird later. Said that way, sexier now wins nearly every time. ---
**Author:** ![Boudicca90](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boudicca90/32/16818_2.png) [@Boudicca90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boudicca90)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cosmetic-procedures-really-about-looking-younger/1004405/45 "2024-07-19T01:22:54Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Gender-affirming surgery, like post-accident reconstruction surgery, isn’t really cosmetic surgery, undertaken just to look better or younger. I agree, but try telling that to Medicaid or private health insurance companies. I had to pay for my surgery out of pocket because it was considered “cosmetic”. 🙄 ---
**Author:** ![Deanna\_D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e495f1/32.png) [@Deanna\_D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deanna_D)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cosmetic-procedures-really-about-looking-younger/1004405/46 "2024-07-19T01:28:45Z")
I think a lot of people are lumping all cosmetic “procedures” together into one big category. There’s a world of different between cosmetic _surgery_ that’s performed by a specially trained, board certified medical doctor, and the work done by an esthetician with a needle full of fillers. I think the trend were seeing now with injectables is a very bad one. It’ll be interesting to see how those age over time. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cosmetic-procedures-really-about-looking-younger/1004405/47 "2024-07-19T05:00:36Z")
Exactly. My initial reconstruction was one thing. Trying to improve it, insurance companies didn’t care. It was classified as “cosmetic” I say (I’m sure I’m not alone) if your looks(body image), scars, and disfiguring body part impact your life adversely, and you have good insurance it should cover some of the costs. I think getting super fat lips or gigantic breasts can be excused. Or even the rib removal thing that’s so popular now. Lemme tell you rib removal surgery hurts like you wouldn’t believe. They shouldn’t allow it for a tiny waist line. Just kick em in the ribs and let them decide in a week or two if they seriously want that pain for a long long time. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cosmetic-procedures-really-about-looking-younger/1004405/48 "2024-07-19T13:15:48Z")
What rib removal thing? ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cosmetic-procedures-really-about-looking-younger/1004405/49 "2024-07-19T13:25:45Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > Matt Gaetz He looks like Peter Brady, if Peter Brady were a prick. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cosmetic-procedures-really-about-looking-younger/1004405/50 "2024-07-19T13:54:53Z")
Apparently some women have ribs removed to have a slimmer waist. This may be an urban legend. Only person I know who ever had ribs removed was someone who had a kidney transplant a very long time ago, when this was part of the procedure. I wonder if people who get cosmetic surgery are the least likely to benefit from it. What I mean is, people who are not aging well are the most likely not to heal well either, and the most likely the have the effects of the surgery no age well. The people I know who tend to look very young for their age tend not to scar. My mother was truly amazing, looking many years younger than she was all her adult life. She just didn’t age at all through her 20s and 30s, and when she was 50 could pass for about 37; when she was 70, she could pass for about 55. She also had very little to no scarring from a number of surgeries, including things like hysterectomy. I’ve also got several places I ought to have bad scars, like my forehead, where I once had 11 stitches from a car accident, or my C-section, which granted was 17 years ago, but I have no external scar visible. I had 22 staples down my abdomen after surgery for twisted gut, four years ago, and have a pencil-line scar. I also have people guess my age about 10 years younger than I am. And there’s a reason in my case, so probably my mother’s as well. My joints are very flexible (I can put my foot behind my head) in addition to the not scarring, and slow aging-- it’s actually due to a collagen defect. I don’t make a collagen tissue correctly, and so I’m bendy, and my skin rebounds. So there are probably people who tend to show their age, but are going to show their surgery as well, because their skin doesn’t rebound well. It’s genetics-- you have an allele, or you don’t. There are probably people in the middle-- they show their aging a little, they have a little work, and there isn’t much to scar, so it’s successful, which is to say, not obvious. That’s a guess, though. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cosmetic-procedures-really-about-looking-younger/1004405/51 "2024-07-19T14:06:05Z")
Originally may have been unfounded claims of rib removal for appearance. It was occasionally done for real medical reasons. [Wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rib_removal) reports one women had ribs shortened for cosmetics and had a hard time finding a doctor to perform the surgery. Corsets can have an effect on rib development making it appear as if some had been removed. And of course all women have fewer ribs than men because God made women from Adam’s rib and invented Lamarckian evolution. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cosmetic-procedures-really-about-looking-younger/1004405/52 "2024-07-19T14:15:47Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > And of course all women have fewer ribs than men because God made women from Adam’s rib and invented Lamarckian evolution. It’s the other way around-- men have one rib fewer-- and it’s a FACT! ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cosmetic-procedures-really-about-looking-younger/1004405/53 "2024-07-19T14:18:49Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > It’s the other way around-- men have one rib fewer-- and it’s a FACT! Right, sorry. Quite obvious. Surely a fact because somebody said it. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cosmetic-procedures-really-about-looking-younger/1004405/54 "2024-07-19T14:21:08Z")
And I just learned that ribs can regenerate after major damage. Need to post this in that thread I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cosmetic-procedures-really-about-looking-younger/1004405/55 "2024-07-19T18:29:11Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Gender-affirming surgery, like post-accident reconstruction surgery, isn’t really cosmetic surgery, undertaken just to look better or younger. And yet… gender affirming surgery is _treated_ as cosmetic by insurance companies and societies. Which is yet another strain on trans people. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cosmetic-procedures-really-about-looking-younger/1004405/56 "2024-07-19T18:49:16Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > I speculate that adding things (cheek implants, lip filler) don’t age as well as removing things (nose jobs, eye bag removal). Cheek implants also have the problem that as you age, the face typically gets more sunken, but the cheek implants just stay where they are as a lump. Chin implants are an exception to this. They’re typically done when there’s a noticeable lack of chin there, and make a vast improvement which doesn’t age out. I’ve never seen a nose job look bad with age if it didn’t look bad in the first place. I have 3 in my immediate family which I base this on. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cosmetic-procedures-really-about-looking-younger/1004405/57 "2024-07-19T20:07:05Z")
I’m sure that people have different reasons for choosing plastic surgery. If you have burns, scars, marks you consider ugly or disfiguring, then it is more about improving appearance or a desire to look “normal”. You might feel a body part is mismatched or would look better if made bigger or smaller. Sometimes these are for body parts which are sexualized such as breasts. You might feel your body has aged in ways you don’t like. You might choose plastic surgery to reduce signs of aging, for personal reasons, vanity, perceived professional reasons (if you work in entertainment or Silicon Valley where “age is a disease”), peer pressure, body image dysmorphia, misperceptions or societal influences. The fact one gets surgery does not guarantee a good result, the surgery was necessary or well chosen, an improved appearance, a result matching expectations, unintended side effects or increased confidence. Since surgery was (until recently) usually secretive, I don’t think the status of affording surgery was a prime objective. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cosmetic-procedures-really-about-looking-younger/1004405/58 "2024-07-19T23:11:26Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > Michael Jackson is the one that comes to mind. He looks so radically different before and after, and it certainly didn’t make him look younger. I always had the impression that he just wanted to look different. Interesting thread convergence when I was looking at [a cite](https://www.oed.com/dictionary/liver-lips_n?tl=true) related to [this concurrent thread:](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finally-alcoholics-get-the-respect-they-deserve/1004469/13) > [@](#): > > > Michael Jackson…was called ‘big nose’ and ‘liver lips’ by his father and siblings. > > Independent 30 September [2002] Yeah, I’m guessing that Jackson’s cosmetic-surgery aims were not exactly rooted in a “healthily developed body image” mental framework. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2024, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cosmetic-procedures-really-about-looking-younger/1004405/59 "2024-07-21T11:14:53Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > There’s an old joke “She’s had so many plastic surgeries that she smiles when she sits down”. Another old joke. “If I get another facelift, I’m going to have a goatee” Phyllis Diller I think. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2024, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cosmetic-procedures-really-about-looking-younger/1004405/60 "2024-07-21T13:42:43Z")
Dolly Parton said that in an interview that I watched. She may have stolen the line. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cosmetic-procedures-really-about-looking-younger/1004405.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cosmetic-procedures-really-about-looking-younger/1004405.md?page=4)