Envy Scarlett's lips? Beware: Celeb parts look best on original owners

Ashlee Simpson’s nose. Natalie Portman's cheeks. Beyonce’s behind.


It seems every day I see a new patient who wants to change a part of his or her body in order to look like a celebrity.
A study by the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons listed Angelina Jolie as the first choice for women and, no shock, Brad Pitt for men. Most celebrities look great â€" that’s why they’re celebrities â€" but do “regular” people go too far when they want their body to look like a favorite star?
Twenty years ago, I walked into an oral surgeon’s office with a photo of Andre Agassi. During high school my jaw had grown enormously due to a medical condition. I looked like an Asian Jay Leno. Only Jay’s jaw was smaller. The oral surgeon studied Andre’s jaw line and told me he would do his best. He broke my jaw in two places, set it back, and wired it in place. Success! I no longer looked like Jawzilla. Sadly, I don’t think you’d mistake me for Andre Agassi.
Since I went for a celebrity look â€" at least in my jaw â€" I guess I shouldn’t cringe when my patients bring in photos of celebrities to show me how they want to look. But bringing in photos of celebrities could be an indication that a prospective patient may have unrealistic expectations. That is my No. 1 reason for turning a patient down for surgery. When I presented that photo of Andre to my oral surgeon, I honestly just wanted to show him what I considered an acceptable looking chin. I might have chosen any photo â€" celebrity or civilian â€" whose chin jutted within the range of “normal.”
Unfortunately, some patients don’t desire simply to look “normal.” They really do want to look as much like their favorite celebrity as possible. This desire to look like another person could be a sign of serious psychological issues, including

body dysmorphic disorder

(BDD), a psychiatric condition in which a person looks in the mirror and sees something completely different than what others see.
To a person with BDD, a small bump on the nose appears to be the size of a melon. These troubled individuals undergo multiple plastic surgeries in misguided attempts to correct deformities that don’t exist. People who suffer from BDD sometimes define physical perfection in terms of a celebrity whose photo they bring to a plastic surgeon’s office. They’re never happy until, in their minds, they look exactly like that celeb.

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