When Amber was 18, she gained 40 pounds after being put on a special medication. “The fat went to my midsection and did not leave.”

“I was like a sun worshipper,” says Kathleen Eicholtz. Years later that constant exposure finally caught up with her.

“I never thought of it as ‘cosmetic.’ My dad was an ophthalmologist and performed blephs (eye lifts) all the time. I thought it was something everyone did eventually,” says Lulu Kauffman.

Working for 30 years on television, Mark Curtis was not shy in front of the camera. But when his hairline started to recede, so did his confidence—and his career.

Allyne Cole is a kindergarten teacher and a mother, which means worry—especially if your son is on active duty in the military. And few things wear out your appearance more than stress.

Cynthia Walker will tell you that she had always planned to “get something done” when she turned 65.

Xochitl was unhappy with her body and reluctant to interact with other people socially, so she was determined to make a change.

Anna Brooner, who at 50 leads an active life (she plays in a woman’s indoor soccer league), says she’d been thinking about the procedure for while.

When she was young, says Carolyn Miller, she made a pact with her girlfriends that “we’d never grow old, never dress like a little old fuddy-duddy.”

Jane had always looked younger than her chronological age. When she passed the threshold of 50, however, people were no longer surprised by her age.

Bill had accompanied his daughter twice when she went to see a cosmetic surgeon, so it wasn’t a real surprise when she suggested he undergo a procedure. What he didn’t realize was how dramatic the change would be in his appearance. “