So, Lady Reader, you want to be green. You want to live sustainably, reduce your carbon footprint, minimize the ecological havoc your lifestyle is wreaking on the planet and grow herbs on your windowsill. Fabulous. But you’re no dumpster-diving freegan. You don’t want to stop wearing makeup and start composting your tampons. You’re an American: you don’t just want to look good, you want to look good forever and ever.

Your (fashion-forward) clothes are sustainably made. Your skin and haircare products are as pure and wholesome as Justin Bieber’s smile. It’s time to tackle the final frontier and try some eco-friendly plastic surgery. Letting time take its toll on the human frame may be “ecologically sound” and “part of the natural life cycle” but it’s also ugly and full of neck flap. So what’s a eco- and body-image-conscious woman to do?

The Japanese, always at the forefront of mind-bendingly terrifying advances in science and medicine, recently pioneered a “natural breast implant” made from human fat and stem cells instead of the usual grab-bag of PVC, platinum and other chemicals. There are already a handful of American surgeons performing the procedure (as seen in Life & Style Magazine!).

But the real prize has to go to Dr. Craig Alan Bittner, Beverly Hills plastic surgeon and former liposuctionist to the stars, for his ingenious solution to the problem of what to do with all that leftover celebrity fat. Normally, the fat removed by liposuction is incinerated or otherwise disposed of a fairly carbon-intensive process. The ingenious doctor, rather than waste such a perfectly good resource, claimed to have converted his car to run on “lipodiesel.” Clean, efficient, eco-friendly human fat. And you were proud of yourself for driving a hybrid. He’s also packed up shop and moved to South America after a slew of lawsuits and malpractice accusations, where he’s presumably injecting jaguars with free-range Botox. It’s a brave new world. Why not try a brave new you?

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Fuller breasts, a smaller tush, flatter tummy – all without a diet or breaking a sweat. That’s what cosmetic surgery can do, and mainstream magazines are happily filling pages in their publications with information about it.

A recent issue of  Women’s Health Issues, a Canadian-based medical journal, took a closer look at what the media is sharing with their readers. The study, entitled: “Representations of Cosmetic Surgery and Emotional Health in Women’s Magazines in Canada”, examines how popular women’s magazines portray cosmetic surgery and associated emotional health.

Five English-language women‘s magazines were selected on the basis of their 2005 Canadian circulation rates: Chatelaine, Cosmopolitan, Flare, O: The Oprah Magazine, and Prevention.

While the content analysis showed that the articles did in fact tend to present readers with detailed physical health risk information, only 48 percent of the articles discussed the impact that cosmetic surgery has on emotional health. Most often the stories linked cosmetic surgery with enhanced emotional well-being regardless of the patient’s pre-existing mental state. Articles also tended to use male accounts to provide defining standards of female attractiveness.

According to the Canadian Society for Aesthetic (Cosmetic) Plastic Surgery (2007), the term “cosmetic surgery” refers to invasive surgical procedures such as breast implants, liposuction, or facelifts. Distinct from reconstructive surgery, which aims to fix body disfigurement, cosmetic surgery is used to alter “normal” and physically healthy bodies.

A 2007 Canadian consumer survey revealed that 20.35% of respondents had undergone cosmetic surgery and 46% would consider surgery to change some aspect of their appearance.

The findings were consistent with arguments in research literature that women‘s magazines contribute to the medicalization of the female body; that cosmetic surgery is generally portrayed as a risky but worthwhile option for women to enhance both their physical appearance and emotional health.

According to the study, some research has found positive correlations between cosmetic surgery and emotional well-being, suggesting that cosmetic procedures increase body image satisfaction and produce psychological benefits that improve one’s overall quality of life. However other studies have shown that emotional health problems, such as anxiety and depression, may arise or become amplified in some patients as a consequence of cosmetic surgery; that body image dissatisfaction may increase after surgery, and that breast implant recipients are at increased risk for psychiatric admission and suicide.

Implications for future research and public education strategies were discussed.

Image: Bitter Jug