But it may have been a tad overzealous – by a few cup sizes.

In any event, when the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) and the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) crunched their annual statistics, they found many plastic surgery patients said came in for a nip and a tuck or more to look better at work.

That may have been on Debrahlee’s mind but she was also especially fond of surgical rejuvenation and was featured in a four-part, 2003 segment of a Discovery Health Channel airing, “Plastic Surgery New York Style”.

The show followed Debrahlee quest’s for DD implants and a shot at Playboy Centerfold fame. She also had three previous breast enhancement and liposuction.

Jump ahead to 2009 when Debrahlee was employed at Citibank where the, ah, extra large enhancement surgery had the predictable effect on male co-workers. To complicate matters, the company had rules against “provocative dress”, whatever that means.

But bank honchos sensed disruption, a lack of decorum and a total non-financial-like image and let Debrahlee go. She then sued for sexual harassment whereupon the New York Daily News dubbed her the “Banking Beauty.”

Anyhow, the Banking Beauty seemed to be making the most of it, appearing in the NYC tabs and on T.V. as often as possible.

But, to coin a phrase, all’s well that ends well.

Debrahlee has just been hired by JP Morgan Chase and still is causing guys’ eyes – and probably the peepers of a few women – to turn away from deposit slips and Excel sheets.

Perhaps the flap would have been avoided altogether if Debrahlee had followed the advice of some cosmetic surgeons who provided rough rules of thumb guidelines for which professions should have what size implants.

• Very large: Film and T.V actresses, models
• Large: Marketing, reporters, sales, tour guides, others in the public eye
• Medium: Scientists, IT workers, law enforcement, engineers, health workers
• Conservative: Financial institutions, lawyers, stock brokers, business executives, politicians and others who court public trust

What is your profession and how large are your implants? How do others on the job react? Do you care?

The top five myths about breast implants and breast enlargement include: 

1.) Shaped breast implants are more natural than round implants.

When surgeon-researchers take images of the chest, they can see that shaped (also known as anatomical) and the round implants have about the same slope when properly placed under the chest muscles. Something to think about: the shaped implants can rotate in the chest pocket which can lead to a not-so-hot appearance.

2.) Women over 50 should not have breast enlargement.

Being healthy determines who can, and should have, surgery, not age. Women over 35 – or anybody with cancer in the family- should also have a breast mammogram to make sure they are cancer free

3.) Most redone boob jobs are for putting in bigger implants.

Actually, implant failures are pretty rare and account for about one to three percent of all implants over many years. But a lot of breast surgery revision is due to deflation of the implant (18 percent of cases) and because of capsular contracture (also 18 percent), a type of internal scarring that surrounds the implant and causes the breast to feel hard.

4.) Underwire bras are never worn after breast augmentation.

Actually, just the opposite is true – an underwear bra should be worn after the patient is fully healed from the operation.  The implants add weight to the breast so support is necessary to prevent the breast from sagging and stretching the breast skin and tissues. If that happens, yet another surgical procedure – breast lift or mastopexy – may be needed to maintain the improved look.

5.) Breast implants can make you ill.

Not so far. Scientists have been unable to make any connection between breast implants or the material inside breast implants and any illness. Silicone implants were kept off the market for about 14 years while doctors and other scientists were studying the connection. Then, when those implants were again allowed back into surgery, as many women as possible are being tracked and tested over many years – just in case a connection should rear its head in the future.

Questions to ask your surgeon:

• Where will the scar be?
• Will implants affect nursing?
• How long is the recoverya nd will there be pain?

• 3000 women
• 1000 men

to discover that 50 percent of male study subjects look at a woman’s breasts before her face.

That’s no great shock to any woman who knows the feeling of a guy talking, not to her face, but to her breasts. Some even advise the man: “Hey, I’m up here!”

But here’s the unusual part of the study: many women are just as obvious, with 90 percent of the study group admitting they stare at and evaluate “the girls” of their friends, co-workers and relatives. Half the group of women surveyed also said they have “breast envy” when they spot a healthy and attractive bust line.

 About 40 percent men of men said, of the women they are usually around, they, the men, check out the ladies’ cleavage at least ten times daily.

British plastic surgeons say that about half of English women are unhappy with their breasts, with 63 percent wanting breast augmentation.

 Guys, however, would not to touch that question.  Half said they would not want their partner to have breast enlargement or a breast lift.

 But it’s not to say that men are mindless beasts. For, given human nature, men are just beasts.

 Let us explain more.

 Researchers at the University of Wellington in Australia performed a similar study and found 47 percent of men first looked at a woman’s décolletage while only 20 percent of first glances were on her face. Moreover, the glances at breasts lasted longer.

 The move is hard wired into the brain – men are not responsible. Whether we realize it or not, virtually all of human attraction is due to the possibility of  mating.

 To prove it, the Australian scientists noted male subjects’ glances fell to the aspects of the hourglass figure within 0.2 seconds of the breast peep. Larger breast sizes and a slim waist indicate the woman has higher levels of estrogen and, thus, greater fertility. ll this may have been a good thing when very few humans dwelled on Earth.

And because our brains can actually overtake libido – given a little effort – wouldn’t it be a wonderful social lubricant if more men worked on developing their peripheral vision so they could look a lady in the eyes while admiring her nether regions?

One of the year’s most interesting films, Ganesh: Boy Wonder, is Canadian; it’s about an Ontario plastic surgeon who stumbled onto news about a boy in India with the facial deformity picture here.

The lad’s family considered the deformity both a curse and a blessing because the facial growth resembled the child’s elephant-headed deity and namesake, the Hindu lord Ganesh.

We don’t want to beat you over the head with symbolism, but Ganesh is also the god in charge of obstacles.

If you are moderately non-queasy, you can probably stomach the up-close-and-personal plastic surgery scene that removes the huge growth.

Another documentary worth watching: America the Beautiful, a U.S. film that covers a wide range of beauty issues from toxic chemicals in makeup to the practices of cosmetic surgery.

In Germany, television offers up “Finally, a New Life.”

The program offers the stories of 13 men and women unhappy with their appearances. They all go under the knife for three months of makeovers – from new teeth to breast augmentation to face lifts and then reveal the changes. It’s something like a Teutonic version of the U.S. The Swan.

The first episode is a charmer as a husband lays down the law to a wife who has totally neglected her dental health for many years and says: “Cosmetic Surgery or Divorce!” The obedient wife turns up with a sparkling set of new choppers and a breast augmentation to boot.

Says the demanding husband: “Wunderbar! Alles gut!”

A new book, “Straight Talk about Cosmetic Surgery” reveals some interesting statistics including the pearl that plastic surgery numbers are up after divorce.

According to the National Women’s Health Resource Center, about 40 percent of women do something to improve their appearance after a marriage, break-up or other “significant life transition.” (That usually also means rejuvenation surgery for a wedding, a school reunion or a 40th, 50th or 60th birthday.)

Did we already mention breast augmentation? It was the leading invasive procedure in 2008.

The driving force for men? Plastic surgery to get or keep a job.

Both genders tend to have face lifts, eyelid lifts and tummy tucks.

Plastic surgeon/blogger Tony Youn, M.D. read something about face lift via acupuncture and was amazed.

Apparently, the article claimed that acupuncture in the face was as good as Botox.

Dr. Youn’s response was, and we quote: “Hahahahahahahahaha!”

Dr. Youn also mentioned, even though he is of Asian background and has had acupuncture, he does not know much about the acupuncture face lift and would like to see some before-and-after pictures.

Happy to oblige, Doctor!

It’s not much, just some crow’s feet removed from around the eyes, but a Colorado psychologist who works as a licensed in acupuncturist offers a before and after picture of wrinkle removal via acupuncture. (Skeptics may suspect PhotoShop!)

Dr. Lucas says that acupuncture is additionally good for:

• Eyelid lift
• Reducing age spots

Part of the problem with acupuncture is: even medical doctors born in America use the 5000-year-old explanation of how acupuncture works: by an unknown, undefined energy force known simply as “chi.”

So the explanation to a patient usually goes like this:

Patient: I’m looking a lot older and wonder what a non-surgical approach can do.
Acupuncturist: What, an aged face? Easy! I just unblock your chi and let the energy flow.
Patient: Chi?
Acupuncturist: Yes, chi is a natural, powerful energy force that flows through your body along certain pathways and sometimes gets blocked. The needles unblock the chi.
Patient: If chi is so powerful, why doesn’t it just plough on through the block?
Acupuncturist: It, ah, er, that is, well, the ah, Chi, er……….
Patient: And how do you measure it? With a chi-meter?

As you might guess, most plastic surgeons – who are scientists, physicians and rejuvenation specialists all rolled into one – don’t buy the concept. Modern medicine in American is run according to evidence-based medicine so if you have something new, you have to prove it. And then, somebody else has to prove it, too. Then, after that, maybe people will buy into the concept.

Nonetheless, some acupuncturists offer breast augmentation and facial rejuvenation.

According to the skincare-news.com Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow, Cher and others have used acupuncture facial rejuvenation.

It all might make interesting reading, but like Dr. Youn says, let’s see dozens and dozens of before and after pictures!

Just for entertainment, watch a video of an acupuncture facelift.

• Face lifts
• Breast augmentation
• Liposuction

The musical comedy, “Skin Deep” (not to be confused with the 1989 movie of the same name starring John Ritter , or the U.S. Magazine, Skin Deep) opened in London, with a Philipino version opening in Quezon City.

Basically, the play is a satire on the culture of narcissism, with a Mephistophelian-like plastic surgeon giving seven characters the choice to look like whomever they want.

In the British version, the sinister surgeon is named Dr. Needlemeir whose famous saying is, “putting right what nature put wrong.”

According to Philipina Mom blogger,  the Philipino version stars a surgeon, Dr.  Beau Batocol, a play on words that gets totally lost in translation.

The clinics in both is the Skin Deep Beauty Sanctuary.

Of course, all this is a sharp departure from the real world of plastic surgery where surgeons are highly trained to spot patients who want too much or needless plastic surgery.

The cultural splash with plastic surgery does not stop with the performing arts.

A popular book, Face Lift Hotel, tells about the adventures, missteps and other off-the-wall moments observed by a registered nurse who ran a Beverly Hills plastic surgery recovery center for 18 years.

Author Maggie Lockridge figures she cared for about 40,000 people after their cosmetic surgical procedures.

The opening anecdote recalls when a lovely, 39-year-old New York City attorney told her husband she was going to L.A. for two weeks but had a face lift instead. While recovering, the attorney meets a high-powered real estate executive who is also recovering from a face lift and becomes enamored of him.

Although post-op patients are not supposed to drink, the duo consume two bottles of wine one evening and really get to “know” each other  — in the biblical sense.

Suddenly, in the middle of the night, Ms. Attorney summons Nurse Lockridge to Mr. Real Estate’s room.

It seems the poor guy broke all his stitches, is bleeding and must make an expensive trip back to the plastic surgeon to re-stitch his incisions.

What are your favorite plays and books about plastic surgery?

For 2008, about 10.2 million invasive and non-invasive procedures were performed.

Now, the American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) has crunched their own numbers (with a plus or minus error rate of 3.21 percent) to reveal that breast enhancement leads the list of invasive plastic surgeries while Botox is king of the non-surgical procedures.

Here are the top invasive procedures for both men and women in 2008 and the numbers performed:

1. Breast enhancement: 355,671
2. Liposuction:341,144
3. Eyelid surgery: 195,104
4. Rhinoplasty:152,434
5. Tummy tuck: 147,382

About 2.4 million people received Botox injections last year. The non invasive procedures included:

1. Botox Injections: 2,400,000
2. Laser hair removal: 1,280,964
3. Hyaluronic acid injections (Restylane, Juvederm, etc) 1,262,848
4. Chemical peel: 591,808
5. Laser skin resurfacing: 570,880

Other interesting trends include the percentage of women plastic surgery patients (92) versus male patients (8 percent). Racial and ethnic minorities accounted for 20 percent of all cosmetic procedures with Hispanics having eight percent; African-Americans, six percent; Asians, four percent and other non-Caucasians, two percent.

Where patients had surgery also made the list, including:

• In surgeons’ offices: 53 percent
• In freestanding surgical centers: 26 percent
• In hospitals: 19 percent

Based on a survey of fees charged, experts figure Americans ponied up some $12 billion overall. Surgery accounted for $7.2 billion while $4.6 billion was consumed by nonsurgical procedures.

In addition to breast augmentation, the leading surgical procedures for women were:

• Liposuction
• Eyelid surgery
• Tummy tuck
• Breast reduction

The nonsurgical procedures were the same as the very first list above.

One final statistic shows where more patients want to go with rejuvenation surgery.

Since 1997, surgical procedures for women have increased by 104 percent. But non-surgical procedures for the ladies have increased 233 percent.

Since 1997, men have seen a decrease in rejuvenation surgery of 15 percent while their nonsurgical procedures have increased 239 percent.

Included are enough bogus creams and lotions to float a battleship, hypnosis, hundreds of exercises, warehouses full of herbs and even having liposuction somewhere else on the body.

The latest comes to us from Japan where engineer Hideto Tomabechi has dreamed up a way to use the world’s most ubiquitous instrument — the cell phone — to pump up the volume, not in the earpiece but in the breasts.

But here’s the good part – it’s a “specially engineered ringtone” (when you see the word “special” do you also sense a major sales pitch coming?)

Not just any old run-of-the-mill ringtone, mind you, but a ringtone of a baby crying. And that ringtone must sound on your cell phone 20 to 40 times a day.

(Text charges just went into the stratosphere! Is Ma Bell behind this scheme?)

The researcher wants you to know that your body responds to the wailing sounds of a newborn by growing your breasts and starting lactation. (Hey, we are not making this up! Read the cell phone-breast enhancement  post.)

Well, that’s some pretty strange science.

What worries us is: what about the guys in the life of a woman who has a cell phone that constantly sounds like a three-story hospital wing full of babies crying into infinity?

Will just hearing that ring tone also cause males also grow huge breasts? If so, how big? And next obvious question: will the guys lactate, too?

And here’s another thought: exactly what is the owner of the bawling cell phone suppose to say when she answers? Just make some goo-goo and other cooing and soothing sounds into the phone? Maybe bounce the cell phone on her knee and then burp it?

The kicker: Reader Nikki comments on the blog that she’s been working in daycare for many years but that her “pitiful 32 B breasts have not changed.”

O.K., we understand your plight, Nikki.  Crying babies did not increase your breast size. Imagine our shock!

Say, want the name of an excellent Beverly Hills board-certified plastic surgeon?

He has lots of breast augmentation before and after pictures!

Can the Japanese engineer say the same?

Young women who are let’s say, bust line challenged show up in the parking lot outside the station over six weeks. The purpose? To decide who is most in need of a breast augmentation. Then the surgery is awarded to the plastic surgeon who has sponsored that year’s contest.

So what’s all the fuss?

For one, the correct motivation for any cosmetic plastic surgery comes from the patient’s desire to look better.  Not to win a contest.

Plastic surgeon Dr. Rob Oliver on his most excellent blog, Plastic Surgery 101, writes about a Florida radio station that sponsors a similar cosmetic surgery contest. In this case, the winner is selected on the basis of she who “parties the hardest” during a slumber party.

So what’s wrong with that?

She may party hearty but she may also not be an appropriate candidate for breast enhancement. That’s something for the surgeon – who has five to seven additional years of training – to determine after an interview and physical exam.

In this case, however, the surgeon performing the breast augmentation was not trained in plastic surgery but in emergency medicine. (Check out our post on finding a trained plastic surgeon for your procedure.)

Awarding plastic surgery for any type of contest is against the ethical code of the major professional societies, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) and the American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) who say cosmetic plastic surgery should be done:

• In a medical, not party, setting
• When patients and physicians can carefully consider irreversible decisions
• When the benefits outweigh any possible risks

Have you ever been in a contest?

Your surgeon will give you a list of items to keep on hand and things to do, but the better you prepare and care for yourself, the better your surgical outcome will be.

Think of the surgery as an athletic event for which you must prepare the body!

Before surgery, make sure your nutrition, sleeping and exercise are up to par. Your diet should include healthy amounts of protein which provides the building blocks for cells.

Being in good physical shape helps you heal faster because the increased circulation brings more blood and nutrients to the surgical area.

So, in the weeks before surgery, you’ll do yourself a favor if you can just find a half an hour daily to walk.

Insufficient sleep is hard on your immune system. Do whatever it takes to get optimum Z’s in the weeks leading up to your rejuvenation surgery.

Due to some longer incisions, those tips are especially useful for body procedures including:

• Tummy tuck
• Breast reduction
• Breast Lift
• Body shaping after gastric band weight loss

Afterwards, your healing will be helped if you continue your surgeon’s pre-surgical smoking ban. Also, stay away from products like aspirin and herbs that increase bleeding.

Plastic surgeons require you to give up smoking before operations because tobacco injures the blood vessels and restricts healthy blood circulation. In fact, smokers require more anesthesia during their surgery.

Unless your surgeon says otherwise, many experts recommend some movement after surgery. Just walking around will aid blood circulation, stimulate your appetite and help other body functions.

Another standard tip is having somebody with you during your healing time to help with bandages, dressings and surgical drains, if any.

If you have flown in for plastic surgery, your surgeon has probably given you post-op instructions.

Flying just after surgery can be problematic, depending on the procedure.

For instance, recent breast augmentation patients would not want to reach up to the overhead bins on a plane. Rhinoplasty patients are sensitive to the pressure changes experienced in air travel.

What are your tips for caring for yourself before and after surgery?