While browsing through the magazine rack at the airport the other day, I was struck by a photo on the cover of Maxim magazine. The cover model, JWoww from the MTV show Jersey Shore, appeared to have obvious cheek implants. If you aren’t familiar with who this is, I barely am either. But she is visible enough for me to know that she has drastically changed something in her cheeks. Now truth be told, most of these magazines are very good at Photoshop, and could have accentuated her cheekbones for the cover. But since she is no stranger to plastic surgery, it wouldn’t be a shock that she had some facial work done.

It does look like she has had cheek implants placed, sine her cheekbones are so pronounced. If so, my opinion is that the implants are too large. Could the change be due to a filler injection? Possibly, but it would take A LOT of syringes to achieve such a dramatic change. It is pretty uncommon to see such an obvious change with fillers, unless done by a overly aggressive injector. If JWoww had come to see me, my advice would have been to pass on implants, and if she wanted any cheek augmentation, a little Radiesse would have given her a much more natural result. JWoww has stated that her prominent cheekbones are due to recent weight loss. I suppose that’s possible, but it sure does look like implants to me.

I was out shopping and noticed a young female with a splint on her nose. I also noticed taping of the tip that told me that she had certainly had a rhinoplasty. There was also some noticeable bruising under her eyes. It made me think…do people mind if others know that they underwent a cosmetic procedure? Years ago, it was believed that the signs of recent cosmetic surgery served as a status symbol. There were even surgeons who had a signature ‘stamp’ on their nasal splint so that others would know that the rhinoplasty was done by them!

 Gone are the days where cosmetic surgery is only performed on the wealthy and elite. But does the public still perceive it this way? The media is still fixated on whether Kim Kardashian had butt implants or if Jennifer Aniston has ever had Botox. My opinion is that cosmetic surgery is seen as more acceptable than ever; I attribute the widespread use of Botox and fillers to this trend. Patients who are injected with a dermal filler probably have a more open view toward cosmetic surgeries like a rhinoplasty or facelift.

 I would like to think that the young woman who I saw in public today with a nasal splint wasn’t out in public to ‘show off’ her recent surgery. Rather, I would like to think that she was feeling good after surgery, and wasn’t worried about what others thought of it. After all, cosmetic surgery should ultimately be done so that someone feels better about themselves in some way, not necessarily how they are perceived by others.

While watching the X-Factor the other night, I was quite surprised to see Simon Cowell’s left eyelid was drooping. I had to do a double-take to make sure that my own eye wasn’t playing tricks on me. It was immediately obvious to me what had transpired; Simon unfortunately had suffered a rare, but preventable, Botox complication. Botox obviously weakens the facial muscles to smooth out forehead wrinkles, but if placed too closely to the eyelid, it can weaken the levator muscle that elevates the upper eyelid. This is called an eyelid ptosis, and as one can expect, occurs quite rarely after Botox injections. As long as the injector is careful and adheres to basic injection principles, this complication can be largely avoided. The good news is that it usually doesn’t last long. But back to Simon…I can only imagine how angry he was, for this to happen during the debut of his newest show! I imagine he treated his injecting physician far worse than any of his contestants! Now I guess we’ll all see how long the ptosis lasts…