Have you ever found yourself focusing on older celebrities -- and then reveling in how good they look? The theory goes that if Farrah or Goldie is older than us and still looks that good, there's hope for us, too.

Actually, this may be even more of a fantasy for ThirdAge women than we realize. So many stars -- and possibly all of them -- have indulged in some sort of nip-and-tuck when Mother Nature's handiwork is imperfect or begins to fade. We don't realize that we are not dealing with the same cards.

Beauty experts can whip a star, even a mature star, into better shape than we've seen on our best day. It's impossible to live up to these standards of beauty -- perfect skin, thin bodies, luxurious hair -- because they are not real. As actress Jamie Lee Curtis says, "I think that the airbrushing, perfect image that we are perpetuating is fraud."

To walk her talk, Jamie Lee decided to bare her imperfections for the camera in the September issue of MORE magazine. Jamie bravely let herself be photographed for her "before" photo wearing no makeup and only a sports bra and tight briefs, the better to see her flaws.

With her tummy protruding ever so slightly over the waistband of her shorts, Jamie, who was considered to have a "perfect" body, was letting the world know that it is just not true. 

In the "after" photo, we saw glamorous, "normal" Jamie after she has been prepped and primed by 13 beauty experts for three hours.

Now, I won't go out on a limb and say we could all look like Jamie Lee even if we had access to her bevy of beauty experts, but we could look better -- a whole lot better. But is it worth it?

Before we decide to submit to the needle or knife, let's consider these facts about the beauty industry: 1,959,048 baby boomers had plastic surgery in 1999, more than double the amount in 1997, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.

According to one source, plastic surgery in this country increased 153 percent from 1992 to 1998, and 91 percent of plastic surgery patients are female. Roughly 10 percent of the population -- 90 percent of whom are female -- suffers from eating disorders.

A magazine survey directed at baby boomers and seniors reported that those of us between the ages of 55 and 64 are in the "age of cosmetic surgery. Nearly one in ten women in this age group ... has had some cosmetic surgery and almost 16 percent expect to have it in the future."

That same survey reports that one in four women in midlife is on a weight-loss diet, while 23 percent say they will diet in the future.

The top three cosmetic procedures obtained by baby boomers? Face lifts, liposuction and eyelid surgery.

Twenty-five years ago, female models weighed about 8 percent less than the average woman in the United States. Today? Models weigh 25 percent less.

According to a June, 2000 Mode magazine article, the average weight of Miss America has decreased by 25 pounds since 1959, while the average height has increased by 3 inches. Forty years ago, the average Miss America wore a size 10 dress; today the average size is a 2.

ABCnews.com reported in January that Miss Brazil Juliana Borges, who was vying for the Miss Universe crown, had had 19 surgical procedures, including collagen injections in her lips and silicone implants in her breasts, cheeks and chin. Juliana later said for the record that she "only had four surgeries."

Sadly, as many 50 to 75 percent of adolescent girls are not happy with their weight or their bodies.

More than 3,000 beauty pageants are held annually in this country. Pageant brochures are filled with advertisements for all types of cosmetic surgeries and weight-loss products. 
These statistics clearly show that we ThirdAgers are more obsessed with how we look, with perfection, than any generation before us. Are we holding on to our youth with clenched fists instead of enjoying this new stage in our lives just as we are? Maybe Jamie Lee Curtis' attitude on aging is a healthy one -- and a much better example to give to our daughters and granddaughters.

Teri Flatley is a Pittsburgh-based free-lance writer who specializes in health and fitness articles. She writes a monthly lifestyle column for Baby Boomers for the Pittsburgh (PA) Senior News. You can read more of Teri's work at www.tflatley.com. 

ENM Policies