Jillian Michaels is now famous for her fit body as a trainer on 'The Biggest Loser'. But she has just told Parade magazine that she used to be a very overweight teenager (weighing 175 pounds) at 5'2 and that she had an oversized nose and decided on rhinoplasty in her teen years. She says her mother's decision to enroll her in martial arts classes in grade nine is what changed her life around.

Here are before and after nose job photos of Alexa Ray Joel, age 24. She's told People Magazine that her nose 'always bothered her a bit'.

A cosmetic surgeon in Los Angeles, Dr. Alexander Rivkin, is promoting the "non surgical nose job" as an alternative to rhinoplasty. He uses a permanent filler called Artefill to shape the nose without surgery. If his clients first want to try a less permanent filler such as Restylane or Juvederm, this allows for 'a test drive' as the nose will soon return to its original shape.

The non surgical nose job costs about $2,000, takes about 30 minutes and doesn't require any recovery time.

Check out the before and after photos on his website.

Here's a video showing before and after photos of many celebs who've had a nose job.

Here's a Monty Python sketch about a rhinoplasty consultation.

How long does it take to heal after a rhinoplasty?

According to the surgeons at Profiles Beverly Hills, no one but you might notice any swelling within two or three weeks of your nose job.

But, it really does take time for the skin to shrink down and wrap around the new structure underneath. For those with thin skin, this may largely happen within a couple of months. For some with very thick skin, revision patients, or if your nose was reduced significantly in size, it can sometimes take even more than a year. So, there is some individual variation in healing based on your skin type, healing characteristics, degree of previous nasal injury, and the type and amount of work done during your procedure.

Check out the larger photos and a more detailed explanation at the Beverly Hills Plastic Surgery blog

Also see some differing opinions in the comments about How Long Does the Swelling Last?

FaceTouchUp.com has created a free online virtual plastic surgery application. You can go to their site, upload your picture and try altering your nose to see what you might look like after rhinoplasty.

Check out their video demo below;

See more before and after pics of Haylie Duff here.

See the video below for some before and after photos of a woman who underwent a rhinoplasty operation as well as TCA Peel. The TCA peel has evened out this woman's skin pigmentation, the results of excessive sun exposure have been erased.

The rhinoplasty and TCA peel were performed by Dr. Neal Handel. The after photos shown here are taken three months after the procedures.

Bridget is getting a nose job soon and she would like some comments about what kind of nose shape people think would suit her best.

She writes,

I have an extremely deviated septum and Dr. Driscoll is going to be correcting that for me as well as give me a little nose job in the process.

This is for forever! I have some anxiety about it but I've always wanted to get this done and NOW is my chance! I am just so undecided. Will you help pleeeeease? If they aren't ridiculous, then I will post them here on my blog! Thanks!

The Glamourous Life website has put together these before and after celebrity nose pictures.

Elizabeth says she has a wide nose and was considering a rhinoplasty but after consulting with a plastic surgeon she changed her mind. Read her story here.

Racehl wants a rhinoplasty and has felt this way for several years. She says her side profile is embarrassing.

She cannot afford plastic surgery and says the nose job would cost about $8,500. She's not working now; she's a graduate student. She feels the rhinoplasty would give her more self-confidence and although she never thought she would ask others for money she feels desperate so she has joined a site called My-Donation where she has put out her request for people to consider contributing to her rhinoplasty fund via PayPal.

In her book Cleopatra's NoseJudith Thurman writes 39 stories about the quest for beauty of one form or another (be it literature, photography, fashion etc.).

One chapter is about the famous photographer of the 1950's - Avedon - and here he mentions that all the most famous models of the day have noses. "Notice they all have noses. The heroic age of the nose has since ended."

Avedon worked with the famous models (see photos) listed below.

Barbara Mullen
Dovima
China Machado
Carmen
Audrey Hepburn
Suzy Parker
Dorian Leigh

Dayana Mendoza of Venezuela was crowned Miss Universe 2008 last night in Vietnam. See lots of photos of her in the video below.

Mendoza, age 22, wants to become an interior designer. The crown was passed over to her by last years winner from Japan, Riyo Mori, Miss Universe 2007.

Some people are quite sure that Mendoza had a nose job. See a before and after photo of Dayana Mendoza's nose here.