Is this the new look for the 21st century? Are more and more women going to go and get their noses shrunk, and their breasts and lips blown up?

Shown here is Shauna Sand, age 38, mother of three, and a Playboy playmate thirteen years ago.

Someone in Hungary has organized the first ever beauty contest where plastic surgery is a requirement for the contestants. It's being billed as Miss Plastic Hungary 2009. And botox, lip enhancements, or collagen injections don't count. It has to be surgery that involves anaesthetic. Breast implants, nose jobs and face lifts were sought. Eighteen contestants were selected and the happy winner (a 22 year old hostess) won a new apartment. The surgeons who operated on the top three winning contestants also won prizes. Some of the contestants were reportedly strippers by profession, but a few other professions were also represented.

See the contestants in the video below. No doubt this marketing concept will be copied elsewhere soon. It's getting a lot of attention in the press today.

A new free magazine just launched in Manhattan. It's the "New York City IMAGE Magazine: The Magazine For Enhanced Beauty and Wellness." This bimonthly mag features articles written by New York City cosmetic surgeons, cosmetic dentists, dermatologists, chiropractors, nutritionists, optometrists, fitness club owners, spas and salons, makeup artists, and other beauty and health professionals. You'll be seeing it at participating doctors' offices, salons, spas, fitness clubs, and in free-standing boxes on some Manhattan streets.

Over 5,000 plastic surgeons will arrive in Seattle on October 23rd for the annual meeting of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. You will see them in the bars and restaurants around the Washington State Convention and Trade Center. Some of the titillating presentations they will be discussing include;

* Breast Augmentation with Liposuctioned Fat

* Achieving Predictable Outcomes in Buttock Rejuvenation

* Breast Reconstruction Managing Flap Reconstruction

* Carcinoma and Hyperplasia in Breast Reduction Surgery

This is a guest post by Mary Ward. She has a site about the best online educational programs for people who would like to train to become nurses. See her recommendations for the top online Nurse Assistant Degree Programs. The image of a friendly nurse here is via HA! Designs.

Many people still turn to cosmetic surgery because they want to look younger and better. However the risk is often not worth the procedure itself and/or can be prohibitively expensive. There are much safer (and cheaper!) natural and healthy alternatives. Here we look at the top five cosmetic surgeries and some healthy and natural alternatives.

Whatever your motivation for trying cosmetic surgery alternatives, these tips can help you maintain that youthful, healthy look without the cost and risk of surgery. At the very least, you have nothing to lose, but potentially so much to gain!

Mary Ward blogs about various health care job issues, including how to enroll in CNA programs online.

Demi Moore, age 46, has told Marie Claire that she's never had plastic surgery and that she prefers to look like a beautiful woman of her age than try to look like she is thirty.

But she will soon be starring as a plastic-surgery-obsessed ex-model in the TV show produced by her husband, Ashton Kutcher My Beautiful Life.

Check out a look at some celebrities who have had plastic surgery and may have been better off without it. Included in this expose are Lisa Rinna, Melanie Griffiths, Phoebe Price, Paula Abdul, Vivica Fox, Lil’ Kim and Tara Reid.

A plastic surgery franchise employing almost 100 doctors has been fined $300,000 for posting fake reviews on the Internet. The reviews were written by employees.

This is reportedly the first prosecution nationally of "astroturfing," the practice of creating a fake grassroots movement or illegitimate buzz around a commercial item...

See more about this case at ABC News.

Roni had a tummy tuck three years ago soon after her baby was born. These are two of the 'before' pics. She's taken a lot of before and after photos. She's very happy with the results and she doesn't seem to mind the very visible scar - it's a worthwhile trade-off for her.

See her flankpasty before and after photos. (Start from the bottom of the page, rather than the top).

Why do we call it 'plastic' surgery? In the video below, Marina explains that the plastic in plastic surgery comes from the Greek word 'plastikos' which means 'able to be molded'.

There are a lot of good sites about cosmetic makeovers and plastic surgery makeovers. Our personal three favorites are Before and After TV, In Your Face and Celebrity Cosmetic Surgery.

We are friends and business partners with Before and After TV. They live in the same city as us (Vancouver) and create some of the best makeup tutorials you can find on YouTube. Their cosmetic makeovers cover not just how to put on makeup like a celebrity, but also before and after botox.

We also really like In Your Face. This site has good ethical standards and also very high quality pics of celebrities before and after their plastic surgery makeovers. They encourage reader participation and have a live question and answer hour every Wednesday when you can ask your question in real time, and discuss your concerns with some of the best plastic surgeons in Los Angeles.

Our other favorite is Celebrity Cosmetic Surgery. Dr. Youn is a plastic surgeon who worked in Beverly Hills for a few years and was very involved with the whole celebrity surgery clique but has now moved and is now one of the best plastic surgeons in Detroit.

We would really like to meet with Colin Stewart (publisher of In Your Face) and with Dr. Youn (publisher of Celebrity Cosmetic Surgery). If either of you are ever in Vancouver, please call us and we will give you a personalized tour of the city plus really enjoy talking to you!

Connie Culp was shot in the face five years ago and the blast left a ghastly hole in the middle of her face. She endured 30 operations to try to fix her face.

Five months ago she received a face transplant, a new face from a dead woman. Culp's identity was secret until yesterday. See her story and the before and after transplant photos at The New York Times today.

The photo shown here is Grief via Flickr.

The Plastic Surgery Channel claims to be the world’s first television network devoted exclusively to educational and entertaining programming about cosmetic and reconstructive surgery. Their goal is to provide credible, up-to-date information to people considering plastic surgery or a cosmetic procedure, as well as coverage of the latest news and hot topics from the field of plastic surgery. Here's one of their first 25 videos available on their YouTube channel.

RealSelf.com is a website that's attracting a lot of feedback from real people about the results of their cosmetic procedures. And from the comments it's evident that the three procedures that show the least satisfaction are cellulite treatments, lipodissolve and thermage.

If you're considering getting some kind of cosmetic surgery done, it's very worthwhile to go check out what other people are saying about it. Here's the summary of their consumer reviews;

Real people sharing: Was it worth it?

% of Consumer reviews saying "Yes":

* 89% Latisse
* 88% Facelift
* 87% Tummy tuck
* 81% Lasik
* 80% Blepharoplasty
* 80% Breast implants
* 79% Invisalign
* 76% Smart Lipo
* 75% Laser hair removal
* 74% Rhinoplasty
* 74% Accutane
* 73% Botox
* 72% Liposuction
* 67% Chemical peel
* 63% Microdermabrasion
* 63% Restylane
* 63% Juvederm
* 62% Lip augmentation
* 55% Fraxel Laser
* 48% IPL
* 44% Teeth whitening
* 37% Thermage
* 32% Lipodissolve
* 28% Cellulite treatment

There's an art gallery in New York that is currently exhibiting "I am Art". This is an exhibition about the art of plastic surgery and shows before and after photos and videos of people who've had plastic surgery. The aim is to show the surgeon as an artist working with a human canvas.

The exhibit is on at apexart through May 9th.

From their overview;

plastic surgery can be a most challenging art form, since a surgeon’s materials are not canvas or clay, but rather the human body. However, not everything in plastic surgery is necessarily art. Some procedures are rote, technical mechanics, operations that can be taught to almost anyone and, if they are performed as they are taught, the results will always be the same. But those same routine surgeries can also become something that requires a great deal of artistic skill depending on the patient’s need. A facelift is a good example. If one understands the anatomy, performing a facelift is a basic reversal of the process of aging. Over the years, the procedure has changed from simple skin lifting to complex plane lifting techniques, where incisions are made and various degrees of undermining of the skin are performed, resulting in the deeper layers of the face being lifted. While this is a routine surgery and there is nothing particularly creative in the basic process, finding the proper vectors of pull and reestablishing lost volume in the face does elevate it to an art.