Botox backfires on Hollywood babes

Have you ever noticed that most people with bad face lifts (and most face lifts are bad, these days) all seem to have that same creepy look, as if their face had been flattened and stretched out on a torture rack? Whether young or old, you can tell a mile away they've had plastic surgery. Even those celebrities and stars who you would think have enough funds to pay for a good one, don't fare much better than your ordinary Des Moines house-frau trying to keep her hubby from running off with his secretary.

In the never ending quest for beauty and eternal youth, people have subjected themselves to being sliced and diced, plucked and sucked, stretched and plumped out, lasered and injected with toxins in a futile attempt to regain youth or change the bodies they were born with. The older (and not so old) will do anything to hang on to the last vestiges of youth. The results often make them look freakish, or worse yet, older than they actually are, like Melanie Griffith. Melanie is 50 this year and she looks identical to Mary Tyler Moore, who is 71, but with better hair.


Melanie Griffith ..................Mary Tyler Moore

Then you have unrecognizable Meg Ryan (46) who looks like she has also had not only a face lift, but cheek implants and lip collagen, to boot.


The 2 faces of Meg Ryan

And Cher and Jessica Simpson look like they glued garden slugs to their lips. They were fine, pre-collagen.


Cher............................Jessica Simpson

So what possesses people to nip and tuck? And who sets the standards for what's considered the personification of beauty? Unfortunately, in this country, Hollywood (and the media) have exalted those ultra-youthful, stick-thin, big-boobed, puffy-lipped model types, so everyone struggles to acquire those stats by starving themselves, pumping iron for hours each day, and ultimately submitting to the knife.

It's even tougher for those in the entertainment industry because actors have always been expected to maintain those standards. Ageism in the industry has forced film actors to try and remain youthful for as long as humanly (or inhumanly) possible, so they start having the botox and face lifts when still young and the end result has been disastrous. They have, in essence, created a monster because, according to an article in The Wall Street Journal, there's a dearth of actors who look their age, even the younger ones. They are now having to go to Canada and Britain (where Botox is less popular), to do their casting:

"Both TV and the movies have been coping with the effects of cosmetic treatments and plastic surgery for years. But the problem is greater for television shows, because there are more close-ups. With the majority of camera shots in TV from chest to head, faces are more heavily scrutinized and harder to hide with lighting. As in movies, peer pressure and a cultural fixation on youth play a role in the Botoxing of the small screen..........Even greater culprits are high-definition programming and the exploding sales of giant flat-screen TVs -- and not only because high def picks up flaws once fixable with makeup. High definition also cuts the other way, showing face lift scars, overly peeled and pulled skin and extra-firm foreheads. "The Botox used to be less noticeable but high def has changed that," says one network president. "Now half the time the injectibles are so distracting we don't even notice the acting."

"Network and studio executives say television is already suffering from a plastic surgery hangover in one important genre: comedy. Successful sitcoms, including "Old Christine," typically feature actors and actresses who use a heavy arsenal of facial expressions. Failed comedies -- for example, "Hope & Faith," "Listen Up" and "20 Good Years" -- often feature performers that border on cardboard caricatures. "Frozen isn't funny," says Mr. Thurm."

The article goes on to say that even though there has been a backlash, and actors have not been hired because of overly botoxed faces, there are studios who, apparently, will still hire them, stretched faces and all. Like Melanie Griffith, who recently won a much coveted role in a new CBS pilot called "Viva Laughlin", a musical drama that's co-produced by Hugh Jackman. On the other hand, she had also been considered by "two major casting directors.... for TV projects" but they "deemed her "uncastable" due to her extra-plump lips and rigid-looking upper face."

But, people will continue to mess with their bodies in search of beauty, youth and perfection. Regardless of the consequences. Let them do what they will. I'm keeping mine intact.