These days, plastic surgery doesn’t raise much of an eyebrow. Travel anywhere from Suburbia to Hollywood and you can meet both women and men who’ve gone under the knife to fix some “imperfection,” however large or minuscule, or sling another temporarily effective grenade toward the ongoing battle against the aging process.

No, it takes a little more than plastic surgery (and sometimes even the reasons behind it) to cause a stir in 21st century America; however, plastic surgery of the volume of Heidi Montag’s recent procedures is sometimes enough.

A recent issue of People magazine features a seven-page spread of 23-year-old reality-star-turned-pop-singer Heidi Montag, not to highlight the long overdue release of her first album, Superficial, but to shine what appears to be a much brighter spotlight on her self-declared plastic surgery obsession.

The Huffington Post provides a scan of the first two pages of the feature, which show both a “Before” and “After” picture and labels the more than $30,000 worth of procedures (10, to be exact) Montag underwent in just one day, including breast augmentation, a mini brow lift, fat injections, and liposuction on her waist, hips, thighs, and neck.

You might think that, while ridiculously drastic, 10 plastic surgery procedures in just one day does not an obsession make. However, according to Montag, plans for plastic surgery have consumed her for years.

“For the past three years, I’ve thought about what to have done,” the reality star tells PEOPLE. “I’m beyond obsessed.” (People)

Why?

The usual reasons, it seems: Insecurity and competition in the entertainment business.

“I was made fun of when I was younger, and so I had insecurities, especially after I moved to L.A. People said I had a ‘Jay Leno chin’; they’d circle it on blogs and say nasty things. It bothered me. And when I watched myself on The Hills, my ears would be sticking out likle Dumbo! I just wanted to feel more confident and look in the mirror and be like, ‘Whoa! That’s me!’ I was an ugly duckling before.” (Huffington Post)

“My ultimate dream is to be a pop star. I’m competing against the Britney Spearses of the world — and when she was in her prime, it was her sex appeal that sold,” she said. “Obviously, looks matter; it’s a superficial industry.” (Yahoo)

In the entertainment industry, obsession with plastic surgery is nothing new because obsession with looks is nothing new. There are plenty of high profile cases like Joan Rivers (to whom FOX is actually comparing Montag) as well as not-so-high-profile cases like aspiring model Neikie Reno (also featured in People as noting “You learn after plastic surgery [...] that the world treats beautiful people differently”) to help illustrate that fact.

(We won’t even get into gabazillionaire socialite Jocelyne Wildenstein, who’s millions of dollars worth of plastic surgery has helped her earn the nicknames “Tiger Woman,” “Cat Woman,” and “The Bride Of Wildenstein,” because I’ve read she actually aimed to look feline in order to recapture the love of her husband who was supposedly obsessed with jungle cats, and, well, that’s a whole ‘nother mess of problems.)

Yet, just because everyone else is jumping off the bridge (and for basically the same reasons) doesn’t mean it’s healthy and I’m not inclined to think Montag is anywhere but in dangerous waters right now, especially given her admitted quest to achieve perfection and “the best me.”

So far, reactions from Montag’s peers seem to vary from hesitant support (fellow “Hills” star Audrina Patridge admitted “10 procedures in one day is a little much” but Heidi’s happiness is “all that matters”) to full-blown shock (Jayde Nicole, Playboy Playmate and ex-girlfriend of “Hills” personality Brody Jenner, claimed the number was so high she thought it was “a joke” and couldn’t understand why someone who was “genuinely pretty already” want to “change herself more”).

On the first page of the spread, People quotes Montag as saying no one is really in a position to judge her because “we all want to feel attractive.”

Most of us do, yes, and that’s one reason so many people have plastic surgery. But, if Montag truly believes she might be obsessed with plastic surgery, then surely she recognizes – even if only privately – judgment over getting plastic surgery, from anyone, isn’t really the issue; rather, folks seem to be more concerned about the volume of not only her procedures but the procedures she had done in just one day.

Montag isn’t done, either. She has plans for another breast augmentation to increase her already massive (in my opinion, anyway) DDD cup size.

What do you think? Is Montag’s self-titled plastic surgery obsession nothing more than a blip in the Radar of Typical Outrageous Celebrity Behavior, or is she possibly facing a difficult uphill battle against anxiety, depression, and what could maybe even morph into body dysmorphic disorder if she doesn’t seek help now?

Image Credit: bdhq per these Creative Commons License Attributions

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From Psych Central's website:
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    Last reviewed: 14 Aug 2011