PHOTOS: The Distressing Worldwide Boom in Cosmetic Surgery

Photographer Zed Nelson traveled the world documenting how body improvement has practically become a new religion

  • By Joseph Stromberg
  • Smithsonian magazine, October 2012
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X ray Plastic surgeon Nose job Crying beauty pageant contestant Face resurfacing Leg shortening
Face resurfacing

(Zed Nelson / Institute)


Face Resurfacing

While exploring the world of cosmetic surgery, Nelson was amazed by how ubiquitous it has become in modern culture (Laser face resurfacing, Bare Necessities clinic, London). “Banks now offer loans for plastic surgery. American families with annual incomes under $25,000 account for 30 percent of all cosmetic surgery patients,” he says. “Americans spend more each year on beauty than they do on education.”

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Comments (5)

It's as if the young beauty queen and the older woman in this picture are trying to look the same age. Our faces, hair etc all have to be the same. Can't we even be different ages now ? How sad for the little girl and for the older woman.

Those are some nice puppies, err......I mean, knockers.

Sally Walker looks OK until you see her hands, which place her at least in her 70's

The good doctor might consider a liposuction treatment of his own. His wife is no credit to his work either.

I am going to defend my profession a little bit here. True, there are extremes. Cosmetic surgery is not for everyone. In my practice I have changed people's lives. I have had women run up to be in public thanking me. Of course, I work on ordinary everyday patients who just mostly want a little help to look better and enhance their natural beauty. I think what we have here is a systemic issue, as this photojournalist points out. Now that these procedures are possible, people will want them. Cosmetic surgery goes back to ancient times of Romans removing scars from their backs. The pursuit of beauty is not new. Dr Rhys Branman Little Rock Cosmetic Surgery Center



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