Color contact lenses are another big seller in the cosmetic industry.  You don’t even have to have an eye sight problem!  Decide you want blue eyes instead of brown?  Pop in colored contacts and your wish is granted.

One of the most common plastic surgery procedures is the rhinoplasty or nose job.   There are a lot of people unhappy with their noses.  A nose job can cost a person anywhere from $4,000-$12,000 and a whole heck of a lot of pain!

Another common procedure is lip injections to make the lips fuller and more sensual.  Some of the substances used to make the lips appear fuller include fluids from bovine hide and human cadavers. 

Then there is suntanning.  Maybe one day some comedian will compare white women who wish to look darker (to be more beautiful) to black women and their desire to straighten their hair.  Of course, suntanning has a bigger impact due to the health risks associated with it.

Teeth are a huge money making industry too.  If you have bad teeth there are many options available.  If they are crooked, an orthodontist can straighten them for a few thousand bucks.  If they are not white enough, they can be whitened.  A dentist can completely cover up existing teeth with veneers or caps.  Instead of dentures there are dental implants that are nothing short of “snap-on” teeth.  Cosmetic dentistry is a $15 billion dollar industry today.  I’d say people are particular about their teeth!

Cheeks and chins can be enhanced with implants and liposuction can take care of any extra chins that may be appearing.
Ears too big or stick out too far?  There is a surgery that pins them to the side of the head. Of course if one of your nifty tricks at all the parties is to wiggle your ears, you might not want to have this done.

Working our way on down the body we come to the breasts on women.  They can be augmented (enlarged) or reduced.  Any man can have implants put in that give them the awesome pectoral muscles woman love without all the hard work, or if they have “man boobs" they can have them reduced.  If a woman doesn’t quite want to go to the extent of surgery to have her breasts enlarged, she only has to buy a padded bra or a push-up bra.  A good padded bra can add a couple inches or more!

Tummy tucks and liposuctions are another common cosmetic surgery procedure.  A tummy tuck can cost anywhere from $4,000- $20,000 and at least $3,000 for liposuction. Sit ups are for sissies!

If we move on down and around to the back, we come to yet another area that seems to be an area of concern for many.  Of course there are surgical procedures for this too.  Liposuction is very commonly done on the buttocks region to reduce the size and shape.  A buttocks lift will cost you a cool $4,000 or more.  And again, if surgery is not your thing, buy a girdle and pin that unruly butt fat up in elastic!  And if your problem falls within the “no butt” range, provided you have extra fat somewhere else on your body, doctors can transfer fat from there to the buttocks.  If that doesn’t appeal to you, padded underwear are an option.

Piercings and tattoos are also considered a cosmetic enhancement.  People will pierce just about any part of their bodies now. Tattoos are also a possibility and could turn up anywhere!

Manicures and Pedicures are yet another indulgence that many treat themselves to monthly or even weekly.  If a woman has trouble growing long fingernails, a salon can solve the problem by attaching artificial ones.

I’ve mentioned quite a few cosmetic procedures in the previous paragraph.  I’m sure I’ve probably missed some if not many.  But my point is that women and men alike want to look good.  As a whole, we spend a lot of time and money to accomplish that.  Many go through nothing short of torture to accomplish that! I’m guilty, you’re guilty.  And if you aren’t, well, you are either blessed with rare natural beauty or you just don’t care what you look like.

Whatever the case, one question that echoed through my brain after considering all these things is this ... What do I define as beauty?
Granted none of us want to have to look at someone that takes no pains what so ever to make themselves presentable to the fellow human race.  It’s just common sense to clean yourself up, comb your hair, trim your nails, clean your ears out every now and again……….but when all the common every day hygiene is taken care of and we’ve done the best we can to look presentable, what is it we look in the mirror and see the need to change and why?  Not that any one of the things we choose to change should be deemed as overindulgent or a waste of money.  But why are we not happy with ourselves, our individuality?  Every day I look in the mirror, I see things I don’t like about myself.  I may choose to leave them and I may choose to do my best to help those little shortcomings appear a little less “short.”  The potential problem is if I look in the mirror and never find anything I like about the image looking back at me.

When I started considering all the things people do to themselves to cover up what they think are flaws I eventually ended up laughing at the conclusion I came to.  A man may go out intending on meeting a beautiful woman.  He may think he’s dating a beautiful blue eyed blond with an out of this world body, when in all reality he may be drooling over a woman with no hair, orange eyes, cadaver lips, a 3 inch padded bra and padded butt, and snap on teeth!  Women, the same goes for us.  No wonder there’s a lot of groping going on!

It’s pretty scary to think of the possibilities……