Extreme Aesthetic Surgery.

As professionals who work in the area of aesthetic surgery know, the popularity of aesthetic medical treatments has exploded over the past two decades. There are likely several reasons for this growth, ranging from advances in medical and surgical techniques to greater acceptance by the general public of the use of medical treatments to address body image dissatisfaction and enhance appearance to the consistent coverage of the field of aesthetic surgery by the mass media. Stories on the most recent advances in aesthetic procedures have always been popular topics for women’s health and beauty magazines as well as daytime talk shows. The last decade, however, has seen aesthetic surgery as the focus of a number of “reality-based” television shows. Some of these shows have focused on the experiences of patients; others have focused on the lives and lifestyles of the physicians who perform aesthetic procedures. Unfortunately, the majority of these programs have focused on the extremes of aesthetic medicine. Many patients depicted on these shows present for a consultation requesting an extensive number of procedures of the face and/or body, which was the main premise of the shows Extreme Makeover and The Swan. Other programs have shown patients who present for a single procedure only to be persuaded to undergo a number of additional procedures (and with no discussion of the added costs involved or manner in which the patient will pay for these treatments). Still other programs have focused on patients who explicitly request extreme changes to their appearance, whether to resemble a popular celebrity, have comically large breasts, or shove the hands of time back several decades. Most professionals who work in the field of aesthetic surgery know that there is little “reality” in these shows: the day-to-day comings and goings of the patients and providers depicted on these shows are dramatically different than the typical afternoon of new consultations for most reputable professionals. As a result, it would be easy to dismiss these shows as “guilty pleasures” for most viewers.