HOST: Fifteen year old Molly also wants to fix her face.
GUEST: I think the perfection is definitely a ballerina thing.
HOST: Even though it already appears flawless. This California native believes a perfect face could help her land the perfect career. She is already a student at the world famous New York School of Ballet.
GUEST: Being in a classroom for three hours a day, looking at yourself in the mirror, never taking your eyes off it, you find so many little errors and flaws.
HOST: The flaw Molly sees is a small bump left over from a broken nose when she was just two years old but is big enough to make her feel self conscious.
GUEST: If I can fix something, I will do it.
HOST: She is also having trouble breathing so her mother has given her the okay to get a rhinoplasty, a nose job.
GUEST’S MOTHER: The appearance of the performer is important so we just wanted to take the opportunity while we were doing the surgery for the breathing to refine her nose and just make her full facial appearance for an audience perfect.
GUEST: I feel more pressure. You get up every morning. You want to do your hair, you want to do your make-up but as far as dancing you are going there to work your butt off. To get strong. To be healthy. It was more of I might look cuter.
HOST: Tomorrow Molly goes under the knife hoping a new nose will bolster her self confidence.
GUEST: I know it is going to come out good. There is going to be pain and swelling and stuff but, oh my God, my face is going to look different after tomorrow!
HOST: Beverly Hills is famous for its exclusive shops and fine dining. It is also the epicenter of the cosmetic surgery craze in California which has more board certified surgeons than any other state.
DR. NASSIF: Let me go ahead and take some photos.
HOST: The guest, an aspiring ballerina, never considered going anywhere else to get her nose done. Dr. Paul Nassif runs a private practice and specializes in facial plastic surgery.
DR. NASSIF: This one is a funny one. Tilt your head all the way back. I am going to look inside your nose.
HOST: This is his third and final meeting with Molly before the surgery.
DR. NASSIF: How bad does the hump bother you? Do your friends tease you?
GUEST: Not at all. It is just kind of a personal thing. It has always been there. I was two years old when it happened.
DR. NASSIF: So you had some trauma at the age of two? So it bothers you then?
GUEST: Yes.
DR. NASSIF: The youngest teenager I will operate on is 15. At this time, the nose has primarily stopped growing and the cartilage also has stopped growing.
What we are going to do is we are going to soften your nose. We are going to take away the bump, thin it a little bit, thin the tip a little bit. That is when we are going to make it your nose, it will look like you, it will just be refined.
This is a time when we are able to actually make the changes while they are in school. If they have a self image issue, we can correct it at that time and make them more comfortable when they are around their peers.
HOST: Dr. Nassif does not think he can do much to help Molly breathe better.
DR. NASSIF: The septum is pushed over a little bit to the left but not severe enough for me to do surgery.
HOST: Which means that Molly’s rhinoplasty will be purely cosmetic.
DR. NASSIF: The nose is not really sticking out that far.
HOST: What he does recommend is a chin implant but Molly is not interested. No chin implant and no cure for her bad breathing either. Molly decides she wants the surgery anyway.
GUEST: I am in it for a little bit more perfection being a perfectionist and being a dancer.
GUEST’S MOTHER: We are going to take a few pictures so we can put them in the album.
HOST: In the office of Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Dr. Paul Nassif, Molly is about to have a rhinoplasty to remove a bump from the bridge of her nose.
GUEST: It is kind of weird. In a few hours I will look completely different. Well, hopefully, not completely different.
GUEST’S MOTHER: Say goodbye to your nose. I feel a little better plus I feel really comfortable here.
GUEST: She is like gripping my arm.
DR. NASSIF: The rhinoplasty, at least thought by most surgeons, is the hardest procedure of all. It is three dimensional and every little thing you do can really greatly affect what the nose is going to look like.
GUEST: Bye mommy!
HOST: Nose jobs, which cost about $5,000, are the most popular procedure among teens. Three hours after going into surgery Molly is waking up with a new nose and the verdict is unanimous.
DR. NASSIF: You like my hat hair? Everything went perfectly. You are going to be a little black and blue but not that much. After you finish talking to your mom, I want ice on your eyes. Okay?
HOST: The last detail is to record the moment on film.
GUEST’S MOTHER: At least she is not vain; she could take a picture of herself looking like that!
GUEST: Just four weeks later: My biggest fear was looking like a bump and coming out with an ugly nose.
HOST: Molly is getting tips on how to make up her new look before a follow up appointment with Dr. Nassif.
GUEST: I love my nose. It is so cute. It is all small and petite. The bump is gone and it is narrower. I went up to my friends and said “How does it look?” to the ones that I told. They are like “What exactly did you have done?” Oh, good, you cannot tell.
