Beauty is on the Inside...Right?

I went to my plastic surgeon today to make sure that my leg was still healing well. (Full Disclosure: I have a plastic surgeon.) The good news is that yes, the leg is healing well. Good, great, boring.

While I was sitting in the waiting room waiting to go in, I found myself sitting directly across from a young twenty-something (maybe 19?) girl that I would describe as rather attractive. Good body, cute face, and thin: what is she doing at a plastic surgeon? There didn't seem to be anything wrong with her, so I had to assume that she was going in for purely cosmetic reasons. And with that assumption, I became absurdly vain. As absurdly vain as a plastic surgeon.

So I'm stealing glances at her, trying to remain undetected, and attempting to figure out what she was doing there. Suddenly, I start thinking to myself, well, she's got a bit of under-chin fat, we could suck that out, she's got a cute nose, but I can understand why she doesn't like it, that can change, give her a bit of an eye lift, perhaps some work on the jawline, etc. I briefly considered a boob-job, but she was wearing loose-fitting clothing and the results were inconclusive.

Then, the kicker. Her friend comes out of the door separating the consult rooms and waiting room and she gets up to go. So now I feel like an idiot, she's not really planning on getting anything done. Oops. This poses a whole new set of questions. Do cosmetic surgeons see like this always? Do they get coffee and think, "A few strategically placed botox shots would really improve that barrista's quality of life"?

And what does that say about the kind of person who actually becomes a plastic surgeon? Do you have to be incredibly shallow in nature, or do they teach that in med school? Do they turn it off when they go home? Can they turn it off? Or do they go home, hug their 6 year old daughter, and think "I can't wait until you're 18 so I can give you a better nose"?

That's about as much as I can think about that. Stay tuned next week when we learn just why Peter Piper is so damn obsessed with picked peppers.