Cuts like a knife

GMA had a boob job — or so a friend told me. The soda I was drinking came right out of my nose when I heard the news. Nose stinging from the pain, I cursed my friend icily and told her to shut up and stop telling me nonsense when I had a drink to my lips.

That night, I watched the news and heard the press secretary deny the rumor. I smiled smugly because I thought I was justified for yelling at someone nastily. A few days later, I had to apologize to my friend when the Palace started whistling a different tune. The president did get breast implants, only not in recent history, but 20 years ago.

 The words came straight from the horse’s mouth, but I still couldn’t believe it. Why? Because GMA is the president, and presidents and leaders are not supposed to get boob jobs. It’s an illogical argument, I know. I’ve had a long-held belief that only celebrities and socialites go under the knife because, let’s face it, cosmetic surgery is done for vanity’s sake. I completely understand why actors and actresses would want to get something nipped or tucked because their bodies are their capital. But, come on: why on earth would a president need fake breasts?

Call me naïve, but I just can’t (or don’t want to) imagine powerful people like our president undergoing a procedure like this. Yes, I know many people in power are capable of being just as vain as their counterparts in the entertainment industry, but I want to believe that they have more important things on their minds than their physical appearance. Only the Ashlee Simpsons and Tara Reids in our world have plastic surgery; politicians have better things to attend to (they’re supposed to, anyway).

It’s difficult to accept that in recent years, this belief of mine doesn’t hold true anymore. Once upon a time, people only read or watched the snap transformations of celebrities’ noses (and breasts) from flat to pointy. Now, it seems that most people have (or want to have) plastic, non-biodegradable anatomical parts.

The beautification mania is not limited to westerners either. In my high school, a girl had rhinoplasty, or what is commonly called a nose job, done the summer before her sophomore year. When I first saw her with her new nose, I didn’t want to believe that she had anything done. Although I remembered her old nose very well, I decided to think that my memories were wrong rather than accept the fact that someone I knew had gone under the knife. “She couldn’t have gotten a nose job,” I used to say. “She’s only a teenager.”

More and more teenagers are having cosmetic surgery. I base my observations not on studies and statistics, but on the sheer number of young girls I see having work done on Dr. 90210, a show that features real people having real surgeries.

Quite a few of these real people are high school students. They go to the good doctors of Beverly Hills to get brand-new silicon breasts as birthday or graduation gifts. New year, new cup size!

The show follows patients as they have consultations with surgeons and have the procedures done. It also shows how much pain these people are willing to go through to become closer to their ideal appearance.

I could hardly stomach seeing their ugly, swollen scars and teary-eyed faces. If I ever had aspirations for a sharper nose, I lost them after watching a few episodes of this back-to-back with Nip/Tuck, a TV series about plastic surgery. Neither of these shows holds back when showing the gruesome process of becoming beautiful. Both shows are immensely popular, but I don’t see a decrease in either news items or personal stories about people having a tummy tucked or a nose (or butt) lifted. Maybe folks just aren’t as squeamish as I am.

Or maybe it’s because of all the advertisements surgical clinics release. If you’ve ever been on the SLEX, then you’ve probably seen the numerous billboards for Facial Care Centre, Belo Medical Group, Calayan Medical Group, Marie France, Mikaela and Flawless.

So many personalities, from Ping Lacson to Dawn Zulueta, have not only had work done in one (or more) of these beauty clinics, but have also endorsed them. This trend of celebrity endorsement of surgery sends a message that to be sexy like Dawn or pretty like Bianca King, you have to go to a cosmetic doctor.

The entertainment industry can also be blamed for making it seem okay, cool even, to have something “improved.” When it seems like every Hollywood and local celebrity has gotten surgery and looks better than ever, regular people, especially kids, are inspired to do the same. No one wants to live with their flaws and imperfections anymore — not when you can do something about them.

Magazines like Seventeen and CosmoGirl! publish articles about the risks of going under the knife, but they don’t conclusively argue against it.

I am not against trying to become more beautiful. I just don’t think plastic surgery is the way to go. In essence, what surgery does is to remove what makes each of us unique and makes us generically pretty. In the case of liposuction and tummy tucks, it makes us too lazy to work for what we want.

Can you imagine Reese Witherspoon altering her chin because she doesn’t like the way it juts out? If she did that, she wouldn’t be the same charming and distinctly beautiful actress we adore. In the same way, if I decide that I don’t like my eyes because they are spaced too close together and have them changed, then I wouldn’t be the same person.

Yes, the body is just a shell; the personality inside remains the same, you say. But, nothing ever happens in a vacuum. What we do to our body is a reflection of who we are – our beliefs, motivations, insecurities, and priorities in life.

So now, during my teenage years, I don’t think having surgery is worth it. I still have time to grow and shrink. But when I grow old and my boobs start hanging to my knees, I might consider going under the knife (for practicality’s sake, okay?).

Until then, I’ll just be content (and horrified) to read about Beyonce’s nose job and pondering on the possible reasons why our president had her breasts fixed.