Rita Rubin tracks the decline of nose jobs:
In 2011, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, 37 percent fewer Americans got nose jobs than in 2000. The economy surely played some role: Surgical cosmetic procedures across the board declined by 17 percent during that period, coinciding with the economic downturn, which left people with less money to spend on nonessential surgery. But rhinoplasty, or "nose reshaping," saw one of the sharpest drops among all procedures, from 389,000 in 2000 to 244,000 in 2011.
Greg Hanscom interviewed Florence Williams about why breast implants, despite a lot of side effects, are still so popular. She went to Houston, "ground zero for implants":
I learned that one of the most successful implant surgeons in Houston actually had a swimming pool with a Jacuzzi in the middle of it, and it was supposed to look like a breast. The Jacuzzi was the nipple. And he earned millions. You think of Houston as this hardened oil derrick city, but it’s a city that’s built up around breasts.
(Photo by Flickr user melohel)
The Dish 