Said "R., 18, is an incoming college freshman from Colorado who got a deep neck-lift and rhinoplasty," quoted in "Three People on Why They Wanted New Faces" (NYT gift link).
That realization "Wow, this feels like the real me" is so "Twilight Zone."
August 11, 2026
"Now, I’m 13 days post-op. Only one of my friends has been negative about it."
"Before the surgery, he said, 'It’s weird to me that you’d do this, because you’re someone who preaches embracing who you are.' The confusing thing is that he’s very 'black pill,' which is a trend that says you need to be beautiful in order to get a job or find a soul mate. I hate black pill, because it’s pushing the narrative that hurt me as a little girl: that looks are the only things that matter.... Maybe I’m contributing to that narrative by getting this procedure. But I looked in the mirror after my surgery, and I thought, Wow, this feels like the real me. It sucks that I have to change a part of me to truly like myself."
Said "R., 18, is an incoming college freshman from Colorado who got a deep neck-lift and rhinoplasty," quoted in "Three People on Why They Wanted New Faces" (NYT gift link).
Said "R., 18, is an incoming college freshman from Colorado who got a deep neck-lift and rhinoplasty," quoted in "Three People on Why They Wanted New Faces" (NYT gift link).
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11 comments:
Plumbing the depths of a woman's vast ocean of justifications is like dropping a lead line into the Challenger Deep.
The "real" me is much more handsome than the real me, but I've managed to go through life living the lie anyway.
[start virtual italics]Plumbing the depths of a woman's vast ocean of justifications is like dropping a lead line into the Challenger Deep.[end virtual italics]
One of the three post-surgical profiles is of a male (53, an engineer from Idaho). He's looking forward to his co-workers telling him that he look better. I guess that's part of his "vast ocean of justification."
With any luck, at least some of his co-workers will have read or heard of this article! That way, they'll know what to say.
"One of the three post-surgical profiles is of a male. He's looking forward to his co-workers telling him that he [look] better."
How very 'male' of him. He probably smokes Marlboros.
Justification is the huge grey area that provokes all of the conversation on this. Correcting a harelip? Botox injections for puffy lips? Boob job? Breast reduction? Where does pure unnecessary vanity transition into a reasonable self-image boost?
Seems like young people have more to gain, in terms of self-esteem and confidence, by getting plastic surgery. If a nose job reverses social withdrawal, it's a big win any way you look at it. We don't need to look at plastic surgery from the same vantage point as that of an early-twentieth-century eugenicist or a modern day liberal. If these people want to get rid of their big "Jewish" noses, they should just go ahead and do it.
Spiros said "If these people want to get rid of their big "Jewish" noses, they should just go ahead and do it."
Nose job is a popular Bat Mitzvah gift.
One of our commenters mentioned knowing Marlo Thomas before she got rid of her big "Lebanese" nose. Her Dad kept his.
Interesting that only the man shows us his before and after face. Makes wonder if the women are still unhappy with how they look.
I certainly didn't appreciate my 18yo physical being. Plastic surgery never occurred to me - probably because that's something aging women did (and, of course, money). If I'd been born thirty years later, I wonder how I would've dealt with (or wanted to deal with) my physical shortcomings.
Basically I'm glad I wasn't born thirty years later.
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