Plastic Surgery Procedures Find a Plastic Surgeon

Alex Kuczynski spent $100,000 before she realized she was addicted to cosmetic surgery. Now the 39-year-old author of "Beauty Junkies" is ready to tell her story. "I hardly wear make-up anymore. I've spent 10 years dyeing my beautiful brown hair blonde and bleaching it to straw. I used to get a manicure and pedicure once a week (until I) discovered I have really nice fingernails with beautiful half-moons in them.

What is amazing to me, having given up the Botox and collagen injections too, is how much time I have and how much money I save," said the daughter of Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, the former Prime Minister of Peru. The mad rush to look beautiful and be perfect has forced many Americans to have cosmetic surgery ? many of which are unnecessary. In 2004 alone, 478,251 Americans had liposuction; 334,052 had breast enhancement surgery; 290,343 had surgery to alter their eyelids; and 166,187 had rhinoplasty or nose jobs. "Tens of thousands had more esoteric surgeries. New procedures include belly-button enhancement, nipple enlargement, and lower body lifts (to remove the excess folds of skin resulting from gastric bypasses)," according to Helena De Bertodano in The Times Online.

Like most Americans, Kuczynski was also caught in the beauty trap. Living in New York City pressured the style writer of the New York Times to compare herself with others and seek endless ways to beautify herself. This led to one cosmetic procedure after another. "I always thought I would never ever do anything because in my view it was just not something that intelligent people did. (Cosmetic surgery) was considered the purview of dopey Hollywood starlets and aging Palm Beach housewives.

I think that what happened is it somehow became OK, not only OK but required, to care about your outer carapace. It sounds bizarre but it's almost as if it is disrespectful to show up in a business meeting with a huge furrow between your eyebrows," she said. With that in mind, Kuczynski began her slow but painful descent into the world of cosmetic surgery. It began with Botox injections to erase the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes, her forehead, and her eyebrows. From there, she had collagen implants to fix her nose, liposuction to remove some excess fat from her thighs, and she even had her eyelids done.

"I had spent $6,000 - about the annual salary of the average Hungarian, Mexican or Korean - to correct a minor imperfection of my body, a flaw so trivial that ultimately no one, not even my fiancé, would ever notice a difference. I was a junkie with a problem," she confessed. While attending the funeral of a close friend, Kuczynski couldn't wait to have Restylane injections on her upper lip to look more like Angelina Jolie. She left the funeral to get the shots hoping to return there in a few minutes to make a speech. She never made it back.

Her lip swelled and it took some time before things returned to normal. By now, she realized her mistake and swore never to do anything to herself again. Before you decide to have any cosmetic procedure, ask yourself: is it worth the risk? Do I really need it and am I ready to face the consequences? While generally safe at the hands of a skilled doctor, cosmetic surgery can hurt both you and your wallet.

That's why a lot of people are turning to non-invasive and natural ways to stay beautiful. One of them is Dermaxin, a potent anti-aging cream that can take years off your face without harming your health.

Read out Wedding ideas. Also check out for perfect eyebrows and plastic surgery