Cindy Jackson, Plastic Surgery, and Her Quest for Beauty

While women tend to deny having cosmetic surgery and claim that their beauty was genetic, Cindy Jackson, who currently holds the Guinness World Record for having the most cosmetic surgeries, is even proud of her “surgically enhanced” appearance that she even said she will not stop her quest for youthful beauty.

While Jackson is about to celebrate her 57^th birthday, her appearance is far from looking old.  In fact, she can be mistaken as a 25-year-old vixen—a clear proof that plastic surgery, if done carefully to a patient who has a deep understanding with beauty, can do great wonders.

It was 25 years ago when Jackson started having plastic surgery to turn herself from a plain-looking country girl to a beautiful swan.  She said that on average, she spends two weeks each year having the procedure and recovering from it.

Her undying quest for youthful beauty started in 1977 when she migrated from Ohio to London to study fine arts.  During her college years, she learned that Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and other great artists were able to capture the beauty in their works because of their deep understanding with an “ideal face.”

But even at a young child, Jackson said she was fascinated with the near-perfect appearance of a Barbie doll, a gift she received from her parents when she was 6 years old.  Also, she realized that beauty can give a girl more advantage than those plain-looking ones.

“The teachers were kinder than them (pretty girls),” Jackson was quoted saying in a previous interview.

In her playful, young mind, Jackson imagined that she was the doll who is living a glamorous and happy life in London.  Surprisingly, such fantasy became a reality when she decided to go to UK and live there for good.

But before going under the knife, she made a wish list of plastic surgeries that would turn her into a beautiful woman that almost resembles a Barbie doll.  She wrote down the changes she wanted and these include fuller lips, perfect white teeth, more feminine jawline, smaller nose, wider eyes, smaller waistline, smoother skin, thinner thighs and knees, and higher cheekbones.

According to her estimates, she spent £62,000 or around US$98,000 on 52 cosmetic surgeries including two eyelid lifts, countless of liposuction, nose job, cheek implant surgery, jaw restructuring, and five facelifts.  On the other hand, she spent £20,000 or about US$31,700 on non-invasive procedures such as microdermabrasion, dermal fillers, and Botox.

Surprisingly, she gets most of her funds from exclusive interviews and two books she wrote about plastic surgery.  To date, she also offers her own skincare products and has made herself a cosmetic surgery consultant.

Top 5 Extreme Plastic Surgery

Plastic surgery in general can provide the best outcome as long as two important factors are present: board-certified plastic surgeon with extensive experience, and good candidate for the procedure.

Take note that an “ideal candidate” does not simply refer to someone who is healthy and has no healing problem.  Another important thing is that the patient has realistic goals and expectations, and is considered to be emotionally and psychologically stable.

However, some people seem to go overboard when it comes to their physical appearance that they made it to the list of top five extreme plastic surgery:

5. Sheyla Hershey

Because no plastic surgeon in the US would want to operate on Hershey, she went to Brazil to further inflate her breast implants to achieve an astonishing 38KKK bust size.  And after eight breast surgeries, now she has the largest augmented breasts in the world.

Just recently, Hershey has been in a car accident and was arrested for driving under the influence.  When her vehicle hit a tree, she said the airbag did not deploy so her breasts ended up cushioning the impact and saving her life.

4. Amanda Lepore

Arguably the world’s most recognizable transsexual, the New York-based model and actress has gone multiple cosmetic procedures including breast augmentations.  There are also some reports that she received silicone injection into her buttocks, hips, lips, and forehead—despite the fact that such procedure has already been banned by the US FDA (the agency only allows silicone implants).

And with countless of plastic surgeries, she now looks like a caricature of herself—if there’s such a thing.

3. Hang Mioku

The Korean woman made headlines when she injected her face with cooking oil after running out of silicone.  And because of her unhealthy obsession with cosmetic procedures, even plastic surgeons no longer came near her.

But when a local media broadcast her swollen face, the public took pity on her and raised funds for plastic surgery.  However, doctors could not make her appearance normal after 20 years of abusing injections, lifts, and surgeries.

2. Michael Jackson

As the King of Pop became more famous, his obsession with plastic surgery worsened that his once luscious, chocolate-colored skin turned impossibly pale white while his nose became too pointy and “structurally unstable” that his doctor has been reported to decline another operation.

1.  Jocelyn Wildenstein

In an attempt to prevent her late husband from philandering and leaving her, Jocelyn is said to undergo countless of plastic surgeries to look like a cat, which was the favorite animal of her spouse.

But despite the drastic transformation, Jocelyn’s husband left her with another woman.

According to reports, Jocelyn had fat grafting, lip injections, brow lift, and facelift that gave her the feline look.

More Women Seek Butt Augmentation

Every couple of years, the trend in cosmetic plastic surgery changes based on the “current celebrity idol.”  For instance, the Paris Hilton look, which was all about having a slim body and limited curves, used to be the “in thing” during the early 2000s that liposuction at the time was popular.

In fact, Los Angeles plastic surgeon Dr. Tarick Smaili has seen some thin patients asking for liposuction even there was no excess fat to remove.

“Of course I have to decline such patients who want to go extreme.  My priority is not only improving their appearance but also their safety,” Smaili said.

But the ultra-thin look has been bumped off by another trend: more curves, particularly large hips and buttocks.  It all started when celebrities endowed with a large derriere such as Kim Kardashian, Beyonce Knowles, and Jennifer Lopez stole the limelight.

Figures from the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery show that US adults spent about $31 million on buttock enhancement surgeries in 2010, increasing by 40 percent from the previous year.  Meanwhile, the procedure’s growing popular is expected to continue in the next coming years as curvy celebrities remain the media’s darling.

Butt enhancement is performed either through implant surgery—the same technique applied in breast augmentation—or fat grafting in which a patient’s own fatty tissues from other parts of her body are used.

But unlike in breast augmentation, butt implant surgery does not pose any risk of rupture because it uses solid silicone implant, which is supposed to last a lifetime.  However, patients should accept the fact that just like any surgery, there is always the chance of needing revisions in the future due to certain factors.

Just like butt implant surgery, fat grafting can also augment the backside, though instead of using synthetic devices, it uses a patient’s own fat from abdomen, thighs, or other areas abundant with this tissue to enhance her derriere.  And because it does not introduce foreign material, there is almost no risk of rejection.

However, the result of fat grafting is somewhat unpredictable because some of the fats are reabsorbed by the body.  In most cases, the acceptable survival rate is 60 percent of the transferred fats, and those which remain a year after the procedure will likely last a lifetime.

Patients should remember that both techniques in buttock augmentation have their limits.  For instance, implant surgery can only augment the upper part of the butt while the result of fat grafting depends on the absorption rate and amount of excess fats in the body.