7. What is your view on the importance placed upon appearance today?

Since learning to live with BDD I have learnt that it really is who we are who makes us unique, not what we look like.
However my greatest concerns are the constant “extreme make over” TV programs that suggest that happiness can be created through a cut of the knife!.
I worry that other sufferers may look at programs such as these and think that surgery is the answer to their problems.

When I was unwell I visited many surgeons for consultations, I was under age so I would lie and say 19 so I could be considered (They never even asked for ID!)
But one day I had a huge realization when a surgeon in Cambridge did a before and after example on the computer, he showed me what I would look like with the changes I wanted to make to my nose, this is when I realized, that once my nose was fixed I would want my bags removed, my eyebrows lowered, my lips fuller, my forehead larger, a better jaw line, the list was endless.

For the fist time ever I knew that no amount of surgery would fix me, as my idea of perfection within myself was impossible to achieve, I wanted to be everything opposite to what I am!

Michael Jackson is the typical example of what I believe would happen to a BDD sufferer given the funding to entertain surgery, I am just grateful that I managed to stay strong enough to become comfortable within my own skin without undergoing an obsession that could have potentially taken over, and spiraled out of control.

My greatest concern is that this world is far too focused on weight, face, hair, etc.
Take for example Britney Spears, the girl has had 2 children, she obviously is not mentally well, but Britney tries to pick herself up by performing at the MTV Music Awards, I personally thought she looked amazing seeing as she has given birth to 2 children!.
The next day she is all over the tabloids with them making statements such as “Britney the Fat Pig” .
What an earth is happening to our world! what kind of role models are we showing the kids of today!

When I was ill the Media Ideal was not of influence to me, however I know that other suffers are obsessed with these Magazines, TV shows etc, every BDD sufferer is different, I am so fearful of what will happen to a sufferer who strives to become what the media put out there as “perfection”.
I am not saying that there is anything wrong with people who take pride in their appearance, or even anything wrong with having surgery, but the world has become obsessed with it, and when something becomes an obsession, I believe that is when it becomes unhealthy.
Last week there was a 6 page spread in my Magazine showing you where you can get all these procedures done!, its like they are promoting it, to the point that anyone would be tempted by how appealing they make it seem!.
We have lost sight of what is important, being comfortable in our own skin! And learning to like who we are! Without the need of extreme dieting or a quick fix from the surgeons knife!