What today's imagery is doing to society...

I'm a plastic surgeon.
I have spent the last 10 years doing Botox, face lifts, dermatological rejuvenation, making people perfect.
I sit all day removing wrinkles, scars, moles, bra straps and saggy tits.
Liquify is my best friend. It squishes, squeezes, extends, plumps, and minimizes...
Sounds like a Playtex cross your heart commercial.

Then I do it to myself ~ in real life.
Face scrubs, conditioner, waxing, body oil, pedicures, masks, plucking, moisturizer, Spanx, and anti aging serum (which was complete BS, but I bought it for a million dollars, and by George I'm using it).

That's not even half of it... Then there is under eye cover up, base, powder, blush, lip stick, lip liner, eye shadow, eye liner, mascara, and of course, Sally Hansen leg spray...does it ever end?

What is this thing we call beauty?

By the time I leave the house I have used 37 products.
...and I'm still old.

I've been tugging on my bra straps lately trying to see what it would be like to hoist those puppies up back to where they were when I was 18 again. I need a hydraulic lift in real life, but I can do it in 2 minutes in Photoshop and it won't hurt a bit or cost a dime.
Self image 0. How did that happen?

We have all seen those Dove commercials where they take a model who is gorgeously flawless. They photograph her, then do Photoshop and morph her into something less than human. This is what is printed, fake perfectness. This is what we see. This is what everyone wants, perfectness. We can't just be happy with who we are. The real thing doesn't exist anymore.

I can write about it all day long. I have seen it all my career. An 18 year old beautiful perfect high school senior girl comes in and criticizes every inch of her body and face. A 55 year old fat guy with a beer gut, bald head and acne scars looks at his images and says "Hey man, my biceps look pumped". 

Why can't girls feel that confident?

What have we done? What am I doing to help create this global facade? Contributing...

It started back in the days of world renown artists, Van Gogh, Renoir, Micheal Angelo. They didn't paint the scars, for heaven's sake Mona Lisa does not have pimples. Not one flaw. We are just reverting back to the old world paintings. Photographs are not accepted these days ROCC. (Right out of the Camera) Even the new sony purse cameras have a portrait setting to blur skin tones and take away imperfections. 

That word imperfection means not perfect. We are all not perfect, but want to pretend we are.

I,  Sherry Patrizi confess to have added to the confusion of self image for all people, mainly women. How can we be flawless in such an imperfect world? A world so full of crime, hatred and war. We want to erase the grit and grunge from life off our faces. Maybe if there are no signs of aging, hurt and hard work we can pretend just for a moment, life is perfect.

Like Mona Lisa.

I do not have a solution, I will continue to buy anti-aging products and hang out with young Moms and high school seniors so I may get small glimpses of the past youth that has left me. I will still take off crows feet, age spots and double chins from my customers and on my self as well. All my high school facebook friends and Christmas card recipients think I'm way thinner and younger than I really am. 

If they ever see me in person they will never recognize me.

I'm blaming it on da Vinci!