Nose Job

Call it the curious case of the nose job. The new Egyptian parliament's first scandal broke this week amid disclosures that an ultraconservative Islamist attempted to mask his plastic surgery by convincing fellow lawmakers that his bruised and bandaged face was the work of an attack by thugs. Anwar Bilkimy drew sympathy after initial reports indicated that he was beaten and robbed. Egypt, after all, is experiencing a troubling jump in violent crime, including the beating of a presidential candidate in an attempted carjacking.

All the best stories are told in the kitchen - even the darkest ones. Think of Hélène Cixous' “Oy!,” now at the Actors' Gang, as the rise and fall of the Third Reich as told by your eccentric aunts, who happen to be whipping up liver pâté and a little gossip. Octogenarian sisters Selma (Mary Eileen O'Donnell) and Jenny (Jeanette Horn) have just returned from their hometown in Germany, where they were asked to speak about the Nazi era. Cooking up some nosh, they admit to each other that they didn't exactly tell the whole truth in public.

Despite how aesthetic plastic surgery is portrayed on reality shows, there isn't always a happy ending. A study released today in the Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery finds that people who want revisions on their nose jobs may do so because they don't like the way their nose looks--most sited an asymmetrical tip--or functions. The study surveyed 104 people (83% women) who had undergone at least one or more rhinoplasties (also known as nose jobs) and were interested in redoing them.

Call it the curious case of the nose job. The new Egyptian parliament's first scandal broke this week amid disclosures that an ultraconservative Islamist attempted to mask his plastic surgery by convincing fellow lawmakers that his bruised and bandaged face was the work of an attack by thugs. Anwar Bilkimy drew sympathy after initial reports indicated that he was beaten and robbed. Egypt, after all, is experiencing a troubling jump in violent crime, including the beating of a presidential candidate in an attempted carjacking.

Paula Corbin Jones' profile is dwindling. The woman who sued President Clinton for sexual harassment underwent rhinoplasty at the Park Avenue office of plastic surgeon Dr. Thomas Loeb, two New York newspapers have reported. Jones has said she will appeal dismissal of the lawsuit. The New York Post and Daily News said Jones was seen leaving Loeb's office Saturday with her nose heavily bandaged; it should take about three weeks to heal. It was unclear who paid the $9,000 tab for the nose job.

Cosmetic surgery dates back to the 1890s, when anesthesia and sanitation were finally advanced enough to warrant smoothing out or resizing a nose for purely aesthetic reasons. Surgeons had been reconstructing noses -- and other body parts -- for medical reasons for more than 2,000 years at that point. Elena Conis ** Around 600 BC, an Indian surgeon, Sushruta, jotted down tips for restoring damaged noses and ears.

Scientists long have suspected that dinosaurs were land animals. Only recently, however, have the giants of the Earth been depicted as the terrestrial creatures they were. To get a true picture, a small but significant change needed to be made in the dinosaurs' appearance. They needed a nose job. A study by Ohio University paleontologist Lawrence Witmer found that the traditional depiction of dinosaur nostrils was wrong.

What a time for a nose job. Why would the president of a major power decide to enter the hospital for optional surgery to repair a deviated septum in his nose--surgery that aides said would require a recovery period of up to eight days--immediately after approving a controversial invasion of a rebellious province? Yet that is exactly what Russian President Boris N.

A Newport Beach cosmetic surgeon, accused of giving a former beauty queen from Orange County a nose job and cheek implants that she never wanted, testified Thursday that "I just told her point-blank, if she didn't want to do the operation as I suggested, she shouldn't do it." But Dr. Michael Elam, contradicting emotional testimony last week from former Mrs. California Bonnie Luebke, asserted during his second day on the witness stand that the Trabuco Canyon woman responded: "Do the operation.

Along this capital's best boulevards, some young women go about their days in distinctive style: They cover their hair with silk, drape their torsos with smartly cut wraps and, with some aplomb, maneuver the streets peering through layers of white gauze on their faces. They are part of a nose job nation. Black-shrouded matrons are still the backbone of Iranian society. But in increasing numbers and at young ages, Iranians are altering their bodies in the pursuit of beauty.

Despite how aesthetic plastic surgery is portrayed on reality shows, there isn't always a happy ending. A study released today in the Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery finds that people who want revisions on their nose jobs may do so because they don't like the way their nose looks--most sited an asymmetrical tip--or functions. The study surveyed 104 people (83% women) who had undergone at least one or more rhinoplasties (also known as nose jobs) and were interested in redoing them.

There was a time when Baghdad's reconstructive surgeons were rushed off their feet trying to repair the terrible disfigurements caused by war. These days, they're just as likely to find themselves giving Botox injections or performing nose jobs, as Iraqis take advantage of the calmer conditions to enhance their looks.

In 1908, on hearing about a young man in Vienna who wanted a nose job, Sigmund Freud made a quick diagnosis: The man clearly suffered from an "anti-Semitic persecution" and did not want to be Jewish. When he was informed that "the patient is an ardent Jew" and a committed Zionist, Freud was flummoxed. In the end, he concluded that the patient was conflicted about his father and did not want to look like him. So what would Freud have made of Michael Jackson?

JAGUAR'S reputation for luck -- which is not to have any -- continues with the 2009 Jaguar XF, the company's new and utterly pivotal midsize, V8-powered sedan. In the best of times, launching a luxury sedan against the likes of established winners such as the BMW 5-series and Audi A6 would be a scary proposition, and these aren't the best of times. The XF lands just as the U.S. economy is in a flat spin, premium gas is hitting $4 per gallon and the luxury car market is falling on its posh butt.

High on prescription drugs and four days without sleep, Michael Berke raced his Harley to the megachurch where he'd found a home. He barged into the church office, cursing loudly and wearing a mesh shirt printed with profanity. In his hands he held a picture of a woman with long, red hair and pouty lips. "This is who I used to be," he said. "And this" -- he gestured to his breastless chest, bald head and red goatee -- "is who I've become." He was born a man.

To claim its place in the pantheon, every great story about the Jackson showbiz family needs the following elements: tragedy, litigation and rhinoplasty. Check, check and check. A Manhattan auction house called Guernsey's announced Thursday that more than 1,000 lots of Jackson costumes, correspondence and gold records will be auctioned off at the Las Vegas Hard Rock hotel resort on May 30 and 31.

DR. LANCE ADAMS preps for surgery, snapping on latex gloves under a clear blue sky. Nearby, a medical team wearing hooded wetsuits administers underwater anesthesia. Members of the team hoist the doped patient out of the pool and muscle her onto a makeshift operating table. Adams, gripping sterile scissors, confers with various specialists on respiration rates and oxygen levels. "How's her gilling?" he calls out to his dozen colleagues clad in black rubber.

If it's true that the dinosaurs' nostrils were placed farther down their noses, as pictured in "Dinosaurs Given a Nose Job to Reflect New Earthy Image" (Aug. 3), then the mystery of their extinction is solved. They all died of water up the nose when they bent down to get a drink. Margaret Wiggins Northridge

DR. LANCE ADAMS preps for surgery, snapping on latex gloves under a clear blue sky. Nearby, a medical team wearing hooded wetsuits administers underwater anesthesia. Members of the team hoist the doped patient out of the pool and muscle her onto a makeshift operating table. Adams, gripping sterile scissors, confers with various specialists on respiration rates and oxygen levels. "How's her gilling?" he calls out to his dozen colleagues clad in black rubber.

Along this capital's best boulevards, some young women go about their days in distinctive style: They cover their hair with silk, drape their torsos with smartly cut wraps and, with some aplomb, maneuver the streets peering through layers of white gauze on their faces. They are part of a nose job nation. Black-shrouded matrons are still the backbone of Iranian society. But in increasing numbers and at young ages, Iranians are altering their bodies in the pursuit of beauty.