OK. I'm gonna take you back,
get your clothes changed
then you'll meet Dr Amron.
He'll mark your body. OK.
He'll take photos. Yes.
You walk into the operating room.
You're awake when you go in. Yes.
You're in great hands. Dr Amron
does this all the time.
He's excellent at what he does.
It's like his forte!
I was in Beverly Hills, about to
have a plastic surgery operation.
I've been meeting the people
of southern California
for whom looking their best involves
regular trips to the surgeon.
Wow! Look at that!
Amazing what you can do
with a bit of skin.
You don't want to do the butt
itself. Never do the butt.
They claim that by changing
our outer appearance,
they can change
our innermost feelings.
There are not many guys who are 50
who look that good!
And now I would be finding out
first hand.
Lisa? Come on back, honey.
How are you?
My journey began at the offices
of Dr Stuart Linder,
a Board-certified plastic surgeon
whose life's work
is creating perfect bodies
for the women of America.
What brings you in?
What are you thinking about?
I'm thinking about liposuction
and boob implants.
What do you think
your breast size is?
Probably a 36B.
What size are you hoping to go to?
Around a D. OK.
A double D.
That's quite big, isn't it?
She's a tall lady.
What's made you decide to do this?
Um, I've always thought of it.
Now I'm gonna be 30. I figure you
only live once. Why not? Yeah.
Let's take a look at you.
Excellent. OK.
Excellent.
I'm gonna look away. You have
a bit of skin laxity here.
How are you feeling? Good. She's
excited. She's gonna rock'n'roll.
We'll have fun. How do you feel?
I'm ready to roll, man!
Come in. This is
our consultants' office.
These are just examples of some
of the patients I've operated on.
You operated on all the women
in these pictures? Correct.
And they're models, many of them?
Yes.
How do you feel looking at
these beautiful women you've helped
achieve augmented breasts?
I am a perfectionist with breasts.
Just as Picasso or Michelangelo, I'm
a perfectionist. This is my life.
And I want absolute perfection.
So I go underneath the nipple,
get the folds even, and the nipples
in the correct position
and place the implants perfectly
every time.
So it's not all God-given beauty.
Some of it's Linder given.
I do the best I can.
Dr Linder brings a touch
of Hollywood glamour
to the everyday women who visit him.
They come hoping that an improved
figure will boost their confidence
and maybe change their lives.
Look at the difference in the shape.
See the difference? Yeah. This is
moderate. These would be outdated.
The young lady has quite
saggy breasts. It's what we call
Grade three ptosis.
This can only be corrected
with a total breast lift.
We do over 1,000 implants a year.
That is my forte. OK?
She's got beautiful creasing.
One finger. Before they were
really far out.
Now they look like this
without a bra.
You're Adriana. I'm Adriana.
What do you do here?
I run his front office.
I help him with the patients,
as you saw before.
And I help with the dressings
and all that.
I understand you recently had
surgery on your tummy. A tummy tuck.
A tummy tuck and re-did the breasts.
What does the tummy look like?
The tummy is now flat as a board.
I'm so, so happy.
I'm 26 years old. I had a little
bulge going on right about here
and I couldn't get rid of it with
sit-ups or a personal trainer.
He has magical hands and I've...
How long ago did you get the tummy
done? It's about 11 weeks.
What is that mark down there?
This is a full scar.
Wow. It goes from hip to hip.
But I'm OK with it. You have to give
something to get a little back.
It'll gradually go away?
It takes about a year to heal.
Let me see your tummy now.
Does that mean he made you...
He made a new belly button.
A new belly button!
I have a new belly button.
Virgin again!
Where's the old belly button gone?
It came out with the skin.
So he re-does the hole.
A new hole right here.
It's so smooth, isn't it?
Yes. Do you want to touch?
I can touch it? Go ahead.
Wow! It's so smooth, Dr Linder.
Thank you so much.
It's so smooth I let him touch.
So far, so good.
Happy. She's doing well.
You made a new belly button?
What we do is make a new hole.
Same belly button goes through the
new position, through a new hole.
That's considered standard
in the United States.
And I had lipo on the inner
and outer thighs. Suits you. Yes.
Is it a requirement of working here
that you have a perfect body?
Absolutely not!
No. But it helps!
What can I tell you?
The area around Dr Linder's office
is home to some of America's
wealthiest and most adventurous
plastic surgeons.
If you're shopping
for the perfect body,
this is where you come.
My next stop was with a specialist
from Russia,
Dr Nicholas Chugay.
Well, hello!
Hello. Are you Dr Chugay?
I am Dr Chugay.
How do you do? Nice to meet you.
And you. What is your name? Louis.
Louis, it's a pleasure.
Shall we come in? Please, come in.
This is my office. Yes.
This is where I do my best work.
Is it?
Yes, talking to my patients.
So what is it you do, Dr Chugay,
if I may ask?
Well, I do a lot of body-sculpting
surgery.
I'd say that's my specialty. Yes.
Whether it's pectoral augmentation
or gluteus enlargement,
or calf enlargement.
So for men that would be to give
the impression of muscles here.
The Schwarzenegger look.
I would be curious. If I came to you
and said I'd like to improve
my appearance,
could you make any suggestions?
If you looked at me,
what would you say?
Without fear of hurting my feelings
in any way.
Probably I might reduce the nose,
just a tiny bit.
The projection of the nose.
Even though you have a strong face,
still it's a pretty strong nose.
Just a tiny bit to reduce
the projection of the nose.
You have a nice strong jaw line.
Your features are good features.
What is it about the work
that you enjoy?
You could not like your nose,
Have a big nose,
and spend three years
on the psychiatrist's couch.
You'd come out maybe liking
your nose better.
I can do that in one hour
and you'll like your nose better.
So that's the magic
of plastic surgery.
A regular patient of Dr Chugay,
named Steve Erhart,
had come in for a check-up.
Tell me a little about Steve.
Well, Steve and I have known each
other for - how many years, Steve?
Um...
Probably 15. Probably 15 years now.
Steve has had quite a number
of procedures done
that I've done for him.
We still see each other quite a bit.
Are you comfortable
showing off your physique, Steve?
Certain parts!
DR CHUGAY LAUGHS
OK.
Pectoral implants,
biceps implants.
Has all the work been done
by Dr Chugay?
Except for a couple of my very, very
early surgeries, back in 1987.
May I ask your age, Steve?
I'm... I never talk about my age.
But I'm approaching
a half a century old.
Quite remarkable.
In a way, is it fair to say that
Steve is kind of a creation
of yours, Dr Chugay?
That's right.
It's a Pygmalion complex!
It's a collaboration.
It is. It truly is a collaboration.
Looking at Steve, are you pleased
with the results? Yes.
Proud? Yes, I am. I think
he's done well. He's aged well.
Does the roundedness here,
the slightly feminine cast of that,
bother you at all?
Well, they're not perfect,
but they're there.
Right? Right.
Why have you done it?
Small things bother me in a bigger
way than they do most people.
If there were bags under my eyes,
I don't feel I could live with it.
It would be difficult for me
to live with it
so just remove them
and get on with it.
My last appointment of the day
was with Laura Noblin.
An office equipment
lease administrator,
Laura had retained a 2,000-a-day
image consultant named Eve Michaels.
On Eve's recommendation,
she was about to transform herself
through a series
of surgical procedures.
She'll feel a lot more confident
to wear it afterwards. Right? Yeah.
Would you, Laura? Uh-huh.
Would you like to wear this? Yeah,
I like this look and everything.
but right now, I'd have too much
hanging out the bottom.
Not bad. Not bad, not bad.
But too tight like that.
When all this comes in, and this
in here, and this is smaller,
it will drop down differently.
Do you think you'll feel better
after the surgery?
Will I? Oh, yeah.
I can't wait for that. Surgery.
Why? I'll be able to wear all these
clothes and they'll look perfect.
They're not gonna catch.
That'll make you feel better
about yourself? Mm-hmm.
Do you think? How do you know that?
Because I just know.
It's one of the reasons
I want the brow lift
because she looks a little stern.
Have you noticed? A little quiet.
Her energy's down.
And when we lift up the brow,
what you'll start seeing is someone
with more of a "Wow" expression.
What about... And then
why the breasts, then?
Confidence. Bigger breasts,
more confidence?
No. We don't want to focus
on the size.
We're doing bigger so that she
doesn't have to wear a bra
all the time.
Right now, they're a bit saggy.
She doesn't look good without a bra.
But it's when she makes love.
They're uneven.
More than anything else, they... But
you are making them a little bigger.
Since we're gonna be there, why not?
She's getting them lifted
and we want to go a little fuller.
Now she's paying,
she can have her wish list.
Oh! OK. OK.
Instead of doing this,
even with a push-up bra...
May I? Yes. ..it's gonna be
more like this. Up.
Her cleavage will come high.
Back at her apartment,
I was curious about something
Eve had told me
had happened the night before
that threw some light on Laura's
decision to go under the knife.
Am I right in thinking you've just
split up from your boyfriend, Laura?
Um, yeah, I've been with him
about eight years off and on.
We work together so it's been
a challenging thing for me
but I've just kind of had
some conversations
and I've realised, "You know what?
It's been eight years.
I'm ready to move on."
And that just happened? Uh-huh.
I need to take care of myself
and move on.
EVE APPLAUDS
Why are you applauding that, Eve?
Yay! I'm so proud of you! Yay!
That was a big thing for Laura.
It was a big step for her.
Don't you start! OK.
I was crying last night.
I get too close.
I love my clients.
I want Laura to feel so fabulous
with her...
..that no guy is the cause
or the affirmation or the whatever
of her self-esteem.
That she is... That she loves
herself so much,
she feels so good about herself,
that she will be the princess
and you will have your prince.
Any guy that doesn't see that beauty
in her, next!
What's that four-letter word? Next!
Early the next day and I had a full
schedule of operations to attend.
First up, leading breast surgeon,
Dr Linder.
Is Dr Linder around? Yes, he is.
He's in his office. Come on back.
I need to get everything.
First I'll get your breasts.
Legs apart, arms out.
Arms away from your side.
Go ahead. Gown up.
Ready. You're OK? Yeah.
You look a little white.
Do I? Yeah. Oh, my word.
You're not gonna faint or anything?
Do we have smelling salts
for this guy?
And we are starting.
You can put the music up.
Here we go. I'm injecting
under the nipple.
Then I'm going to inject some
portions of the medial breast
and under the inframammary fold
here.
Good.
Excelente!
Excelente!
Bravo! Bravo!
Implant...
going...
..in.
That's it? It's in.
Marcaine is in.
We're filling it up to 600.
First breast done.
How about that? What did it take?
15 minutes?
Look at how beautiful this is.
This is Playboy perfect.
This is as natural and voluptuous
as you can get.
Look at that.
Here's our second implant going in.
550. Filling it up to 600cc.
Here's our Marcaine,
which is an anaesthetic solution.
New breasts.
New Beverly Hills breasts.
For you, that was another day
in the office
but what I saw was a patient
who was...
I don't know. It's a big thing,
surgery.
It's a life and death thing.
That's why you have to make sure
the doctors are the best
taking care of you.
And how was that for you? That was
like water off a duck's back.
You take every surgery as totally
serious. It's all real surgery.
But again, surgeons
who are well-trained
and do the same surgeries
year after year,
thousands and thousands
do these operations
just as a bricklayer lays bricks
and a plumber fixes plumbing
and pipe-fitters fit pipes,
I do these surgeries.
Do you think you might have just
changed her life? Always.
We always change lives.
Upstairs, I wanted to speak to
Dr Linder's receptionist, Adriana,
about a rumour I'd heard.
Is it true that you're thinking
of having another procedure?
Yes!
Yes, I'm actually in the bookings
for this coming Friday.
I'm going in for some lipo
on the flanks.
Really? Yes.
I don't think there's anything left
on the flanks!
There actually is. There's
a little bulge right here.
You can't do it with exercise
too much.
I'm gonna have that smoothed out
so it's more like this.
Let me see the other side.
So just those two little...
Yes, right there.
..two little love-handles.
Yes, I want them gone.
Why?
Because I don't like them.
They make me wonder about my...
When I wear tight-fitted clothes,
you see a little...
You can't see them, though. I can.
What matters is that I can see them.
Not so much that anybody else can
see them, I can and that's enough.
You know they're there.
Have you asked Bree's advice?
About her liposuction? I actually
do think she needs it.
You do? Just a tiny bit on the side
to even it out from her tummy tuck.
Bree? Yes, Doctor.
Bree's advice and Dr Linder's advice
is that I do as much as I could
on my own,
to get better results.
She's getting her nose done too.
You're not!
I am! She's one of our
plastic surgery addicts!
Are you getting your nose done?
I am. I'm getting the bulge fixed
here.
The bulge and my nose goes down.
I'm gonna get that fixed.
Lift it up a little bit.
What do you think about that, Bree?
I'm not gonna tell her no. It's
her body. She's a perfectionist.
She's looking to at least feel
comfortable in her body.
I don't think she needs it
but she doesn't like the way
her nose photos.
It gives you character. That's all
I'll say. It gives you character.
I just don't like how it photos.
I feel it's very noticeable.
And I can see it.
As long as I could see it, I think
that that's what bothers, you know?
Thank God for plastic surgeons.
That's why they're here.
That's why they were invented.
They study and they work so hard
to be so great at what they do.
A little later, I checked in
with Dr Chugay.
His patient was a German-born
food and beverage manager
whose given name was Adolf Leiss
and was now going by
Adrian Davidson.
Are you Adrian? Yes.
I'm Louis. Hi. How do you do?
Fine. Nice to meet you.
So have you had all your plastic
surgery done with Dr Chugay? Yeah.
He did this one
and he did the liposuction.
"He did this one" meaning...
The chest augmentation.
On just one side? No, both sides!
I mean both!
Both sides. Can we see that? Yeah.
But now it doesn't match
the arms any more.
There's nothing left. Right.
Am I right in thinking
you've had a tummy tuck there?
Right here.
How recently was that done?
Er, about three months ago.
Three months ago. It's still
in the healing process?
Yeah.
Could I touch your muscle?
I know that's odd, but...
You see, it's... It's quite hard.
If you flex it...
You can flex it, yeah.
It's still...
So what's happening today, then?
They're cutting underneath here
and going under your muscle
and putting an implant in there.
So basically, it will be...
..bigger.
Really. So you'll look like
you've got big muscles.
A bit bigger, yeah.
But at least you create
more symmetry.
Matching both together then.
Today, I'm going to make them
look like Schwarzenegger.
OK. Now, flex your arm.
That's what I want to see.
Dr Chugay, is Adrian a good patient
for you?
Adrian is a wonderful patient.
He's very compliant.
He's very conscientious. He takes
good care of himself after surgery.
He's really an ideal patient.
And is he creating a look
and a self, a physical self,
that's his idea or your idea?
I know you like to collaborate
with your patients.
I think it usually is
a joint effort.
The patient wants a certain look
and they say, "What can you do
to make me achieve that look?
"I'd like to look a bit
better built that way.
"I don't want to spend five hours
a day working out."
Who's going to pray today?
Letty. Letty, why don't you say
a little prayer, Letty?
God, we think about this day
you give us.
We ask you to bless us
and bless our patients.
Take care of them.
Protect their lives. We ask you
to just help us through this day.
Help us to be better persons.
Amen. Amen.
The next day, and Laura was
about to begin her programme
of self-transformation.
This time, I was hoping to get in
on the act
and find out if I might be
a candidate for something.
We were starting with liposuction
specialist, Dr David Amron.
Hello! Hi, Laura, how are you doing?
Good.
Hi, how are you? How are you?
Good to see you.
I'm Louis. How do you do?
You must be Dr Amron?
Yes, Louis.
Anyway, how are you? Good.
Feel good? Ready to go?
OK, just remove the blue gown.
OK. Ooh, pretty underwear.
Let me just look here.
What we're doing now, Dr Amron,
is what exactly?
I'm marking out the areas
I'm doing liposuction on.
Everybody has their own fancy way
of doing their markings.
I mark the area I'm doing. I mark
the high point and my access points.
That, to me, is the guide
that I use.
Good. Turn around and face the wall.
OK.
Her legs are great.
Her inner thighs are great.
She's a little full
in her upper outer thighs.
This area called
the saddle-bag region.
This is what's defining
her widest point.
If I just bring this in a little bit
it'll give her a better line
so she's not so poochy over here.
Also, this hip and flank area
needs to be brought down.
You never want to do the butt
itself. I almost never do the butt.
But you do around the butt
to give it a better shape.
You make the butt look more round
by bringing this area down.
Was that weird for you, going
through that? I was just...
Not really. I knew
he was gonna mark me.
I was gonna get drawn on. We didn't
mean to objectify you.
No, I like to hear what he's saying.
I'm excited.
Do you operate on, do liposuction
on guys as well?
Yeah, absolutely.
I would say that about 25, maybe
30% of the people I do are men.
And so you, in theory, I won't say
it's appropriate now,
would be able to size me up and say
whether I'd be an appropriate
candidate for that?
In about ten seconds. Yeah. Very
quickly I can look and tell.
Turn and face the wall.
OK.
See, this is very good.
This is a very good thing
to talk about.
You're a pretty good candidate.
I'll explain why
you're a good candidate.
You've got some fullness
in your stomach
and some fullness in your flank.
Now, some of this is fat
between the skin and muscle.
And some of this is being
a little bit out of shape,
maybe a couple of pounds you can
lose by losing some weight.
If you lose some weight,
it'll all come down.
Yes. But you've got a layer of fat
between your skin and muscle
about that thick.
Also, in your flank area,
as you turn around...
..there is also some fullness here.
You've got a great V over here
and you've got this bulging
that occurs in the "love handles",
it's called here.
What is it in England? Love-handles!
But what liposuction will do
is reduce that layer
and make it much thinner...
We are just loving this.
Now do you understand how we feel?
Shoe's on the other foot.
Have you ever had it done?
I haven't, no.
Would I? I would.
But I actually am about
eight or ten pounds overweight
And could be in better shape.
But when I'm close to my ideal
bodyweight, I'm very proportionate.
So I just need to lose weight.
It's a mistake to do it on me.
Dr Amron began by numbing
the incision points
through which Laura's fat
would be extracted.
What I'm doing now is putting
that tumescent fluid in Laura.
He used tumescent fluid to
anaesthetise the target areas
and dislodge the fat, making it
easier to suck out.
Later, Laura went in
for her breast augmentation.
You have a bit of droopiness
so we'll do a bit of lift
to take it up like that.
The scar will be just around
the aureole.
We'll see what makes them look
the most even for her size.
Is that a common size to want to be,
full C, small D?
Finally, she had her brow lift,
stretching her forehead upwards
to open up her eyes and eyebrows.
Will those bumps go down?
Yes, as soon as we go inside
and remove some of the fluid,
they'll all go away.
I'm putting my finger in here just
to feel what I call my release.
Right there.
By now I'd spent a couple of weeks
immersed in the world
of plastic surgery.
The idea of it no longer seemed
far-fetched.
Encouraged by my consultation
with Dr Amron,
and reassured by everyone that
it was a normal and risk-free thing
to do,
I'd booked myself in for lipo.
But first I had an invitation from
Dr Linder, to watch him operating
on his receptionist Adriana
who, having had her lipo, now needed
one of her breasts lifted.
Nice to see you.
Look at you! Hi!
You look different! I do!
I am different. I hope so!
Why do I look different?
What's the...
Let me see.
You've had your nose done!
Yes, I did. I did.
How about that! Let's see
from the side.
My nose was broken from the top.
So he smoothed the bottom here.
And he slightly lifted the top
which was really bugging me.
It kinda went down like a parrot
a lot.
So he smoothed it down.
It looks really good. Yeah.
I know you want me to go with you.
I'm sorry.
I love you!
Let's do this, finally, huh?
Excited? I'm thrilled!
It's a little surreal, is it? Like
here I am and this is happening.
Yeah. You'll be sleeping through it.
Exactly. And I'm in the best hands.
Dr Linder's the best and I'd never
go to anybody else but him.
Rebecca, would you like to bring her
back so I may mark and photograph
the lady?
Let's get you marked. Here we go.
And, all right.
Her right breast is really perky
so we won't touch this today.
We'll just do this one.
Perky is what you want to be,
isn't it?
Yes, yes, I do.
I got the best doctor. That's boss.
Let me just take a quick look
at that.
Wow! Look at that! It's amazing.
It's amazing what you can do with
the removal of a bit of skin.
Adriana's breasts must be like
old friends by now!
OK. And she wants me to open up
her tummy button a bit here.
I figured I'd do this
cos I'm under general.
So I'll do a V-Y plasty.
You can put the music up.
See how that tightened her up?
Look. See the difference?
Small difference,
but now they'll be perfect.
I'll rub that.
Is there a point at which a person
or a patient should really stop,
when enough is enough and they need
to stop having procedures?
You know, a so-called plastic
surgery addict or junkie?
Yeah, we don't see too many
of those.
Thankfully, I don't have those
in my practice.
Could we have a Vicro straight out?
I'm only getting at that point
because Adriana has had
five or six procedures.
So that seems relatively high,
but...
But you made a determination
that this was...
Well, her breasts aren't symmetric.
They're different.
I'm not making her breasts bigger
today. I'm making them even.
Yeah. Does that make sense?
Yeah, I mean... One breast is
sagging. The other one is tight.
Doesn't look the same. She doesn't
want different breasts.
When you first met Adriana,
she would have had a different
appearance.
And the new her
that you've helped create,
is it...is it your... She's happy,
man. She's a happy person,
I tell you.
Personally, every day at the office,
this girl is happy as can be. Yes.
She's really sweet, she feels great.
She's so happy about her image
and how she feels about herself.
Have you contributed to her
happiness? Unquestionably.
Course we have!
She has a better self-image
about her body.
Look at this stomach. It's a flat,
beautiful stomach.
Her stomach had like skin hanging
like you've no idea.
Women care about how they look
in the United States.
I'm not sure if they care in London.
They may not care about
their appearance but they hell do
in this city.
So anyway,
head right off!
Yeah! Go, Brits!
Did Nature get something wrong
when Nature made women?
Know what I mean?
In Los Angeles, obviously,
women feel that Nature did
something wrong.
I'm not the judge of what is right
or wrong. Only God is.
I'm just here to help in a system
that we have at this stage
in Los Angeles to make women feel
good about themselves
if this is what they want to do.
It's a self-fulfilling prophecy
that the more women whose breasts
you augment
then the people with the flat
breasts or small breasts
will feel maybe a bit inadequate.
I totally agree with you.
You're right.
So you're part of the...
I'm part of the cycle.
Part of the cycle. I totally agree
with that.
How do you feel about that?
I feel that's the way life is.
Life goes on.
It is what it is.
So you're saying if no women had
breast implants, they didn't exist,
then women would be happy with how
they are and life would go on.
Who'd need it?
People wouldn't be insecure.
Welcome to Los Angeles, Hollywood,
Beverly Hills. It'll never change.
You're happy to be part of that?
I'm happy to help women feel better
and improve their self-esteem.
Every single day.
We just agreed that part of that
was making others not feel good
about themselves.
Who haven't had the implants.
Go home. Good one. Get some sleep.
Don't you do it like this over here?
No, I don't.
I'm a normal American.
I shake hands.
Thank you, honey. Bye, honey.
See you soon. Bye, Adriana.
# The look
# Of love
# Is in your eyes
# A look
# Your smile... #
It was my operation day.
I was making my bid to join
the legions of beautiful people
for whom happiness comes from
knowing they look their best.
I had my doubts about whether
it would work for me
but I was willing
to give it a chance.
Hi. Hi.
I'm Joanne. I'm one of your nurses.
How do you do? Nice to meet you.
Do you have anybody with you?
Yes, I've got these guys with me.
OK.
But no family or anything? No.
I'll take you, get you checked in
and we'll go from there. Thank you.
Hi, Louis. Hi, how you doing?
How are you?
Good to see you. Good to see you.
How are you feeling right now?
Pretty good. I haven't eaten
or drunk anything all day.
And perhaps a tiny bit...
Tiny-teeny, tiny-teeny,
tiny bit of trepidation
about going under the knife.
You'll do great.
Don't worry about things.
Um, we talked about taking
some Valium beforehand. Yes.
If you want, you can have some.
You'll probably find you'll do fine
without it. Yes.
It's probably better that...
Let's try without it.
You'll be fine without it.
Put your arms straight out
in front of you.
Relax your stomach completely.
Good. Do the same thing to
the other side. All the way round.
Very good.
Good.
You're not allowed to touch
anything blue. OK.
Just follow me.
Step on the blue sheet.
Turn. Don't touch the bed.
OK?
OK, go ahead and drop your gown.
OK. Ready?
I'm ready. Cos we know that
you really like those undies.
How am I doing so far?
So far, you've been an ace.
You're doing great.
OK, Louis, we'll start putting
the solution in.
Just relax. You'll do great.
You'll feel a little pinching
as the solution goes in, OK?
This part is not the most exciting.
OK. Excitement is not actually
the word.
This is what's called
an infiltration cannula.
It's a very thin little metal straw.
It's got a blunt end to it
so it's not sharp at all.
There's some little tiny holes there
that allow the fluid
to come out of it.
If I turn it on, you can see it
starts to spray out a little bit.
It's slowly seeping into the fat.
Once we start the liposuction,
it's completely easy.
This is the uncomfortable part.
Is it? You're doing great.
It's kind of weird.
I feel occasional pinching.
Right. And then I feel almost...
It's hard to describe.
It's like I can feel the sensation
of the cannula going in. Right.
Almost like I can hear it.
I can sense the vibrations of it.
But I can't really feel it.
So I know something's happening.
This area's more sensitive
over here.
The upper stomach area is probably
the most sensitive in the body.
Do you definitely have to do
that bit?
I definitely would like
to blend this whole area in.
We're almost done with this.
The upper abdominal area
has more fibrous tissue,
more connected tissue.
It's harder for the fluid
to work its way in
and separate the tissue apart,
so you feel more as it goes in.
Ee-ow! Sorry. A little poke there.
Great. We're done with the numbing.
OK. Great.
So what's happening now? I'm gonna
start the liposuction. OK.
Got the light.
Is that a little better?
That's nice. Good.
So it's now happening?
It's now happening.
See this? This is it.
Wow, that's the good stuff!
See the colour of that?
The good stuff! He thinks so!
See how pure this is?
There's no bleeding in it.
That's because of this way
of doing it. Look at that.
That's the first pressing!
Extra virgin! That's right!
So how does it feel?
It feels, um... It's not painful
in the least.
Uh, it's weird knowing
what you're doing
and knowing you're doing it to me.
That's a strange thought.
It's like you're scrubbing me
with a brush from the inside.
That's what it feels like.
Wow.
A strange feeling, huh?
It's quite weird. Yeah.
How's it going so far?
Fantastically.
Are you seeing more or less
what you expected?
Honestly, a bit more fat
than I expected. Really?
Yeah. You've got a decent layer
of fat here.
You're obviously a talented doctor.
You could have chosen any branch
of - any specialism to go into.
And, um,
some people would say that,
of the things you could be doing,
this is a relatively, um...
a relatively superficial thing
to focus on.
Uh, yeah.
And sometimes, um...
Sometimes I feel that.
Sometimes I feel like you're
not saving lives in this field.
Ironically the other field
of medicine I considered
was emergency medicine.
What are the satisfactions in
this one if it's not saving lives?
I think it's doing a great job
at what I do.
I'm providing a service.
Do you consider yourself
more of a scientist
or more of an artist?
Uh...
Both. I guess more of an artist.
So what I'm doing now, Louis, is
I'm using my noisy spatula cannula.
I use this at the surface
of the skin
to make sure everything is smooth
to get a rasp evenly
and use the instrument like this.
You can probably feel that rasping
feeling, right? I do, yeah.
Louis, guess what? What? We're done.
That was pretty smooth.
Thank you! You did a great job.
This is Pat and Joanne. I'll see
you in the recovery room. Good.
Sometimes it squirts out
like a little something. Does it?
That's it.
Swing your legs over the side,
there.
It's weird, just being aware of him
chiselling away.
Exactly. Knowing what is going on
is probably the oddest thing.
The idea of it.
People's minds start to work.
I know.
Even though you don't feel
something, it's kind of weird.
He's taking a part... He took
a part of me out of me. He did.
Yikes!
So is it fat at the top and
at the bottom it's the red-tinged
tumescent fluid?
Yes, but this also has fat in it.
You know I told you I thought
we'd get about 300cc out of you?
That's about five or 600. Wow!
This is great for how slim he is.
It looks like a weird salad dressing
or something. Yeah.
Wow! That came out of me!
Out of you, yeah.
He says it's an odd idea that you
took something out of him.
It's a funny colour, isn't it,
for a human being?
It's more like chicken fat,
isn't it? Goodbye!
Thank you so much. I'll give you
a call this evening. Great job.
Take care. You did a great job, too.
Very calm and relaxed.
You really were.
Back at my hotel and I
was wearing a surgical corset
padded with six panty-liners to keep
the tumescent fluid from leaking.
I felt relieved it was all over
and curious whether the results
would make it worth it.
After a few days convalescing,
I went to visit Dr Chugay's patient,
Adrian, to see his results.
Nice to see you!
How are you feeling?
I'm feeling good.
You can tell it's...
Look, there's not much...
..limited movement.
Are you wearing a tee-shirt?
Yeah. You see if I take it off,
you'll see a little scar.
In the light, do you see?
Whoa. That's it.
It's not much.
If it's all right with you,
it was about symmetricality.
Can we see the whole package?
Here we go.
What do you think?
I'm happy.
There are not many guys aged 50
who look that good.
What do you think... The only thing
is the little gap there.
Yeah. He noticed it because
what sometimes happens
is implants can be pushy
and go to a certain direction.
It can be corrected,
like you see when I push.
Hold it in like that. You see?
So what he wants to do is
he wants to close the pocket.
When you do that, they're widening
out, aren't they?
You see, it's too wide.
That's good. Do it like that.
Yeah! You could go around...
Go around walking like this
the whole time.
Yeah.
Did you know I've had some
liposuction. May I show you?
Yeah. You did it. Are you happy?
Yeah.
May I show you? Yeah.
That's cool. Are you still wearing
your belt?
Yeah. How long ago did you do yours?
A week.
Did Dr Chugay do it?
You mustn't tell Dr Chugay
about this.
ADRIAN LAUGHS
Are you happy? It still hurts?
A bit. A bit swollen.
Yeah.
I know it still looks a bit plump,
but that's swelling, I think.
Yeah, but you wait six weeks
and the next thing you have to do
is some tightening.
You have to do some...
Sit-ups? Crunches.
Crunches. Sit-ups
and tighten it all up.
And then you'll see it goes
all the way.
So how long did you wait between
the lipo and the tummy tuck?
Six months. Did the lipo, waited
six months, did the tummy tuck.
Yeah. I wanted to heal everything.
To see how much skin really should
be removed
after all the swelling goes back.
You've had quite a bit of work done.
Yeah.
Do you feel that now
you're finished, basically?
I'm finished, yeah, except for
the touch-up here, I'm done.
I don't want any more. That's it.
Because if you count everything
together,
from the top of the eyes,
the bottom of the eyes,
the cheek implant,
the whole facial filler,
the chest implant, the tummy tucks,
the liposuction, the biceps,
besides 50,000 bucks, it also costs
a lot of pain.
Some people would watch this and
think that's a lot of money
to spend on something.
It's just vanity, really.
Do you look that much better
and is it worth it?
For me, yes.
If people don't see behind why...
I cannot give them the knowledge
or feeling why he did it.
They see only the plain facts
what is presented on the TV.
But if they would take the time
and maybe read between the lines.
If you get for ten, 15 years,
told by everybody,
"You're an ugly bastard",
what happens?
You start believing it.
Who's been telling you for 15 years
you're an ugly bastard?
My stepfather.
When you were growing up? Yeah.
It sounds like what you are trying
to fix is something internal,
something inside.
And external. Maybe going
the physical route
is avoiding the real issue.
No, I went to therapy.
I'm done with my mourning period,
whatever you want to call it,
with the self-pity, with being
different than other kids.
That was then. Because I learned
that I can turn this negative around
to studying, to learning.
I can be better.
Having changed your exterior,
do you feel different? Yeah.
It has changed a lot for me. Really.
That's because of how you feel
about the way you look.
Yes. First I drove the Volkswagen,
now I drive the Mercedes!
I'd had a call from Eve to say that
Laura's transformation was complete.
I was invited to inspect the results
and there was a suggestion that
Laura's on/off boyfriend Brian
might make an appearance.
It's Louis and the BBC.
Louis, hi! Hello.
Nice to see you. Nice to see you,
too.
Lipstick kiss. Lipstick kiss.
How's it going? Great.
An exciting moment,
the grand unveiling. Yes.
Do you know what to expect?
No. Well, no, not really.
I mean, I know what she's had.
Where is Laura? In the other room.
Shall I get her? Yeah.
OK. Everything OK?
Here she is. Hello!
Wow! Come on in!
She's ready for a night on the town.
Look at you!
Turn round. Show them your beautiful
body. See how svelte she is?
Didn't she heal beautifully?
Like a different person. Yes.
How do you feel, Laura?
I feel amazing.
It's like... A lot to get used to.
Stopping traffic. A lot to get used
to, yes.
She stops traffic now. When we go
out, guys turn and look at her.
Have you had that happen before? No.
Let's look in the mirror.
We'll drink it all in.
And then we see...
How do you feel, you know,
looking at the new you?
Does it match the sense of
how you feel on the inside?
You know what I mean?
In other words, have you kind of
got used to it?
I'm getting used to it.
It's a lot to take in.
Yes. I definitely...I don't think
it's all hit yet.
But it's good now. So how do you
feel when you see it, then?
Um... I mean, look at yourself.
What do you see?
The main... The main thing that...
I see is now...
when I look in the mirror
I see a beautiful sexy woman.
Whereas before, I always saw
like a cute little girl.
So that's the main thing.
So I'm totally thrilled with it.
Now, you could say...
that you now look like
a lot of other attractive women
you might see anywhere
in Beverly Hills.
You could say it's
a more conformist look,
like someone coming out of a sushi
restaurant or someone in a magazine.
Do you feel like maybe you've lost
your identity a little bit?
No. Not at all.
You've kind of gone with the...
I feel like I'm stepping into
my true identity.
There's going to be beautiful people
anywhere.
But now I'm one of them.
Yay!
Am I right in thinking Brian...
Cos Brian's coming down here
from what I understand.
He lives upstairs, doesn't he,
in another apartment.
Am I right in thinking he might be
joining us?
I think he's coming down to see her.
He hasn't seen her like this yet.
We have a surprise for you.
Hi, how are you? How you doing?
How are you? Good.
We've got Laura waiting. Hey!
Wow! You look great!
See my back? Oh, yeah!
It's beautiful! Thank you.
Do you... I understand...
I know this is a little personal.
I know Laura and you
were in a relationship.
On again/off again, a little bit,
for a number of years, right?
You were even engaged at one point.
That's correct.
What about now?
Um...
We're both a lot more complete
with ourselves now.
So I really see our relationship
developing into something
a lot more than it's ever been.
And this is a very
different-looking Laura
to the one you've known
for many years.
Do you think it's an improved Laura?
Oh, yeah! Yeah, absolutely. Why?
Um, I just think she looks
beautiful and great.
I like to see her making her...
Bringing herself to her
full potential.
Was that nice to hear that? Uh-huh.
Why are you crying?
Well, it just makes me happy
cos I can see that
he's really happy.
I can just see it in his face.
Yeah.
Congratulations. Thank you.
You look great.
'It seemed as though Laura's
new look had won her man back.
'But I wondered whether it would
really give her the inner changes
she said she was looking for.
'My last stop was a check-up
on my own progress
'with lipo specialist, Dr Amron.'
Louis! How are you doing?
How are you doing? Good.
I'm good. And yourself?
Yes, very good. Yes, good.
So I'm wearing my corset,
as you can see.
But I'm no longer wearing
any panty-liners.
Cos you're not draining any more.
No.
Right. You know what I mean.
Come stand over here. OK.
Put your arms up a little bit.
I'm gonna tell you something.
You used to have a good layer of fat
on top of here.
There's no fat here any more.
I'll prove this to you.
Reach down with one arm, one hand.
Just do a small pinch here.
We'll get a small pinch.
You can't grab a big thing here.
Can you get a sense there's no fat
remaining any more? Yeah.
Turn round. Let's see your flanks.
Arms up.
Looks good. A little swollen here.
It's settled down. You look great.
So how was the whole thing overall?
I felt weird. I had a weird moment
when I looked at it two days later
and I was shocked how good
it looked, in a way.
And I felt almost a feeling
of kind of guilt at my own vanity
that I was taking positive results
from something
to which I'd really given nothing.
I hadn't expended any sweat
in exercise,
I hadn't worked out.
It was like I'd paid a bunch of
money to look like I'd worked out.
I can, to some extent,
understand that.
But if you go back to...
You know, in these areas,
these were always your stubborn
areas. You can never really
lose these things.
I'm not... I know what you said
and you said that before,
I think maybe if I had worked out
really intensively,
which I've almost never done
in my life,
if I spent an hour, hour and a half,
every day in the gym,
working on my problem areas, or had
a personal trainer or something,
I'm confident I could have
made a significant improvement,
maybe even to the point of
getting rid of most of that.
I have to say I disagree with you.
Really?
Yeah. That you would... My thing
is about proportion and balance.
If I feel somebody can achieve -
this is important -
can achieve the results I achieve
with diet and exercise,
I don't do them.
I really only do people who are
disproportionate like yourself
and even though you're a lean guy,
quite in good shape,
those areas were disproportionate
in my eyes and to my touch.
And, yeah, it's true. In 45 minutes
it's gone, it's an easy thing,
but my role in this
is about 75 per cent.
Your role is the other 25 per cent
to stay lean and in good shape.
I suppose you work in an industry
that is all about appearances.
Do you ever worry that what you do
kind of promotes vanity a bit?
To some extent, yeah.
I'd say that I think that people
should not pay too much attention
to it.
That it's part of...being human
and sometimes I wonder
if I do things
that make you think too much
about it.
And so...
You know, so I'd have to say,
"Yeah" with that.
That was a very truthful answer
that you gave.
Is that all you have to say
about that?
Yeah, with all this stuff, I don't
think people should pay too much
attention to it.
I think probably we're a bit
too vain these days,
paying too much attention to it,
and there's a good balance
with everything.
I agreed with Dr Amron.
In helping men and women
to look their best,
plastic surgery has also taught us
to feel inadequate
when we don't measure up,
creating a world of beautiful
"haves" and less beautiful
"have-nots".
As for my own decision,
I had mixed feelings.
Pleased with the results,
but with a nagging feeling
I'd caved into convention
and lost a little part of me.
Red Bee Media - 2007