Vanity Insanity

Mothers and daughters share a very special bond. Elaine Young, who has had over fifty surgeries, claims that she is "not really addicted," but just wants to get it right.

Doctor Harold Silver in Toronto performs what is called a “three-day facelift,” and his clinic is in a luxury hotel.

Like many young women, Kathryn Gordon felt the need to look better and breast augmentation seemed like the “natural thing” to do.

Transformation is ingrained in the human soul. And sometimes, the need to become someone other than ourselves is so profound that we will pay any price to get there.

Kacey Long got breast implants when she was 19 years old, only to become ill and discover they were attacking her body.

Buff Bagwell, a larger-than-life former male dancer, now world-class wrestler, had calf implants that exploded within 72 hours.

Bruce Nadler, a bodybuilder specializing in male surgery, defines his work as “body sculpting” or “body contouring.” Liposuction is called “blind subcutaneous sculpturing.”

Miami is a Mecca for a new breed of drug dealers: pushers catering to the oldest addiction on earth – vanity. Officer Enriques Torres has seen it all.

No longer is it only important to look young; now you have to sound young too. Meet the “Surgeon of Seville,” Dr. Sataloff, a voice lift surgeon.

Julie Rubinzer went in for a “routine” breast augmentation upgrade from which she never woke up because her doctor decided to do the anesthesia himself.

Today, Jeanine seems like a typical teenager. But for Jeanine, “growing up” has been a long and painful journey.

Leslie Trimino's “routine” procedure turned into a nightmare when she awoke from the chemical peel.

As with any lucrative enterprise, cosmetic surgery also has its share of fringe practitioners - men and women who lack board certification.

Surveys show over and over that, after skimming through the latest fashion magazines, more than eighty percent of women report a lower sense of self-esteem.

Hong Vuu went to a beauty salon to have a mole removed. She was “upsold” into getting breast augmentation.

The trouble with using an eyebrow pencil is that they are made for people who actually have eyebrows. Those with alopecia, a condition that causes total hair loss, do not.

After a lifetime of ridicule and childhood taunts, Diana's eating habits change.

Meet Taylor Hooten, a good-looking boy who, like many others, as they grew through puberty, found his looks becoming more and more important to his self-esteem.

When Botox was developed by researchers seeking a way to control a rare type of rapid eye twitch, patients reported that the injections also made them look younger.

Trained in the art of starting up a cold conversation, these girls instantly size up their marks.

Greg White, 43, has felt “inadequate” his whole life. He had trouble in high school, the classic “locker room syndrome,” and was dismayed by the absence of a bulge in his Levis.

Plastic surgery has now become popular entertainment., which says a lot about society’s fixation on looks and what we value in people.

Is it possible, or even right, to be considered “hot” at seventy-two? Mamie thinks so.

More and more, young Asian women are opting to have a simple operation that changes the way they look at the world and perhaps the way the world looks at them.

With custom-made fangs and blood-red eyes, Wayne likes to play vampire and test the theory that the eyes are the window to the soul.