It's a Double-Edged Scalpel

She's confessed, but America is busily assessing her guilt. "The jury is out," Greta Van Susteren observed in her usual wry manner. The former CNN anchor wasn't talking about a trial or even her new show, "On the Record," which premiered on Fox News Channel on Monday. She was referring to her plastic surgery, which was making headlines even before her first new broadcast.

The blond 47-year-old looks less wrinkled and, to use that popular euphemism, "fresher."

"I'm afraid that when the swelling goes down, people will say something about me spending money and not getting a result," Van Susteren said in an interview Wednesday about the eye job she had on Jan. 11. The bags below her eyes, even the forehead lines and the scruffy eyebrows that had given her face character were erased by either the cosmetic surgeon's scalpel or clever makeup.

What is perhaps most shocking about Van Susteren's eye tuck is not how it made her look, but how it immediately made her a pioneer, even though she's far from the first celebrity to admit, willingly or not, to cosmetic surgery. Actress Pamela Anderson Lee was cheered for discussing why she had her breast implants removed nearly three years ago, while Linda Tripp and Paula Jones became as talked about for their plastic surgery transformations as for their part in the Clinton scandals. With each admission or revelation, vanity--not candor--becomes the center of discussion.

As a network news anchor who admitted to surgery, Van Susteren broke a code of not-so-secret secrecy among her colleagues and illuminated society's conflicted feelings about our emphasis on appearance, the nature of news and women's place in it. Evidently, as a journalist she is supposed to be immune to vanity--and to the effects of aging. She's been surprised by the reactions, some of which seem more fitting for a criminal.

"The strangest question was, am I worried about affecting my credibility?" she said. "The doctor didn't remove my education and experience. The second thing is, how come when I'm open and honest, there is a question about my credibility? But if I keep it quiet, hide and lie, my credibility is supposed to be better?"

She has found it odd that her new look has caused observers to conclude that she had Botox injections (she says she hasn't), changed her hair, her brows and even the kinds of clothes she wears. For the record, she says her haircut, highlights and suit aren't new. Though Van Susteren says the media have treated her decision kindly, she's now earned a new identity.