Yes, I had a nose job when I was 18 because my mother told me repeatedly that my Nose “was too big for my face.” It wasn’t, but she was self-conscious about her looks and had her own nose fixed. So I had the nose job, and afterwards, the doctor said I had the worst swelling he had seen in 15 years of medicine. My black eyes lasted 3 months - and this was during my first semester in college. What I wouldn’t discover until almost 20 years later, was that I had a bleeding disorder -von willebrands - that is a very mild form of hemophilia that prevents clotting - but only under certain conditions - and total relaxation was one of those conditions. I look back at my younger pictures and while my nose was pronounced, it was unique and I was very attractive, but my mother made me feel like there was something wrong. My three daughters tease me that they want to have their noses fixed because I did - and I have to tell them that my mother misled me, and it was a mistake. My oldest daughter has a nose that is very pronounced that she got from my husband’s side of the family. One day when she was 15 she asked me if I thought her nose was too big. I grabbed the Vogue magazine that she had bought, and thank goodness, it was filled with a range of exotic models from all over the world, many of them with very dramatic noses. I pointed out how strange they would look with little cheerleader noses - and she was very happy with that reply. It was one of my best mothering moments. My mother later had breast implants, and then complications from those when one burst. She had them removed and had reconstructive surgery on her chest. She has the bleeding disorder as well and so all those surgeries were risky. I recently saw a facelift procedure on Discovery Health and was shocked at how violent a procedure it is. I wonder how many people would have the surgery if they saw the video of how it is performed.

This question is timely for me. I have been overweight since my kids were born…thay are 12 and 7 now. That “I just had a baby” excuse wasn’t working anymore. I have a wonderful doctor who has revoluntionalized dieting for me and many others. I have had to re-think the way I eat, how I eat, and when I eat. It’s differnet for everyone. I have lost, albeit slowly, 43 lbs in 14 months. It may not seem like alot, but the changes I’ve made in my eating are forever…..NOW, when I reach my goal weight, which is still 35 lbs off, I am getting a tummy tuck. After 2 c-sections, no amount of sit-ups is going to remove the tire around the incision area. I wouln’t necessarily consider a tummy tuck “putting my health at risk”-I already did that by being overweight. I consider it a congratulatory, private, means to an end…a “hooray for me” type of thing. I’ve never considered any other type of elective surgery….it’s not really me!!

Well, I’ve “dieted” off and on for at least 40 years, including the original Atkins that appeared in Vogue in about 1972, but that was the most faddy one. As a result my weight is fairly stable and okay, I have a pretty good idea what foods to eat for health, but my current eating suffers from an irregular schedule. So I’m like others in that I already risk my health by not getting enough sleep or exercise and eating Starbucks pastries instead of real breakfast. But… today I went to the gym and tomorrow I have another chance to be good to myself!

oh yes— frying out in the sun when I was a teenager, starving myself as a young adult to lose weight, then too busy for exercise and eating well as a working adult. And now that I am older and wiser I realize that with just a little effort I could have felt and looked so much healthier and vibrant. Now I have decided to attempt to be satisfied with whatever results I get from good nutrition and exercise. Face lifts, tummy tucks, breast reductions, botox sound absolutely scary to me. I know how it is to want to look good though. It would be so wonderful to have even one day in my life when I don’t think about my body and my weight, or better yet, think positively of my body! May all of you have only positive days (I once believed that women’s liberation was going to give us pride and confidence in our bodies, instead I think maybe we got talked into trying to look perfect and the freedom to be slutty….just a thought)

Heavens no. I’ve had enough doctors do that to me. I’ve spent all of my life trying to live, and be healthy. This doesn’t mean I’m perfect, not by the farthest stretch of my imagination, but there’s no way I’ll harm myself, for anything, or anyone. My parents did everything they could to destroy me, too - that’s most likely the source of my determination to survive, and it’s served me incredibly well (according to my present doctors and friends).