Top Five Urban Myths About Plastic Surgery

Has anyone ever told you an outlandish story, saying it happened to an uncle or a friend of a cousin while absolutely swearing it’s true? But it seems you could never track down the source of the story.

All too often, these told, retold and told yet again stories are urban myths. They just did not happen even though everybody believes them.

Consequently, we’ve set the filter to high on our high-tech plastic surgery news gathering gizmo and have uncovered the top five urban myths about plastic surgery.

PLASIC SURGERY URBAN MYTH NUMBER 5. Cher had her lowest pair of ribs surgically removed so she would have a true hour glass figure and tiny waist.

REALITY: Cher admits to having a lot of plastic surgery on her breasts and face but the ribs are really off limits. Other stars who have also been rumored to remove a rib or two include: Elizabeth Taylor, (“Hanoi”) Jane Fonda, Tori Spelling, Pamela Anderson, Janet Jackson and Britney Spears.

PLASTIC SURGERY URBAN MYTH NUMBER 4: NASCAR champ Kurt Busch had trouble getting his crash helmet on so he had an operation to pin his ears back.

BUSCH BEFORE



BUSCH AFTER


REALITY: While Busch’s helmet always fit just fine, thank you, Kurt did have otoplasty, cosmetic surgery on his ears just because he has always wanted to look better. Plus, he was getting married soon. Weddings probably cause more plastic surgery than all the television shows about cosmetic plastic surgery combined. It’s because wedding pictures are handed down for generations. Well, in at least 50 percent of the cases, if you factor in the current divorce rate. (My own thrifty, Great Depression survivor parents just took scissors and cut the despicable bride from the wedding pictures after the divorce.)


PLASTIC SURGERY URBAN MYTH NUMBER 3: If you can donate skin from your tummy tuck to the Shriner’s burn center for skin grafting, the Shriner’s will cover the cost of your procedure.



REALITY: Not true. For more about how urban myths can turn into an absolute flood of bogus email, stay on Dr. Oliver’s most excellent website, Plastic Surgery 101 and read about the numbers of misinformed people who write in on this topic.

PLASTIC SURGERY URBAN MYTH NUMBER 2: 73-year-old former astronaut Buzz Aldrin -- and the second person to walk on the face of the moon --recently had a face lift so his death mask would look handsome and because, if selected for a postage stamp, he would look good there, too.



REALITY: Buzz had a face lift O.K, but it had nothing to do with a death mask or postage stamps. Buzz says he has a “trophy wife” who is actually his same age but looks much younger. The moonwalker especially wanted his “droopy jowls” to look firmer.

AND THE TOP PLASTIC SURGERY URBAN MYTH: (that almost everybody believes!) A huge, muscular man had a hard time texting on his new iPhone due to his huge hands so he had plastic surgery on his thumbs to make them skinnier. Below, a six- footer grabbed onto the hand of the surgery patient in question just to show just how big his hands really are. And check out that giant thumb!




REALITY: Never happened. Plastic surgeons don’t offer a “thumioplasty” because there’s nothing to remove, lift, augment, nip or tuck. You need everything on your thumbs just where it is, exactly like Mother Nature designed it.