Save money by turning off Extreme Makeover and its like

I admit to an addiction to home improvement television, if only to ridicule the victims when the makeover is revealed to resemble an LSD hallucination bummer. However, shows demonstrating how our mean little lives could be transformed by surgery, wardrobe revisions, and habitat rehab are a staple of cable TV. Now, a study by a USC professor has found what I long suspected; the 'nip and tuck' shows are causing us to be unhappy with our bodies, and fueling the plastic surgery industry.

According to the American Society for Plastic Surgery, in a single year (2002-3) the number of 18-year-olds getting boob jobs tripled, and in the past 10 year the number of plastic surgery procedures has more than quadrupled. Professor Julie Albright's study, which appears in Configurations Journal from Johns Hopkins U. Press, found that the more women watched makeover shows, the less satisfied they were with their own bodies. She concludes that the shows set unrealistic standards for appearances, and oversell the monetary value of beauty.