American Plastic

The riveting story of how cosmetic surgery and plastic money melted together to create a subprime mortgage crisis of the body       Plastic surgery has become “the answer” for many Americans, and in  American Plastic  sociologist Laurie Essig explores how we arrived at this particular solution. Over the last decade there has been a 465 percent increase in cosmetic work, and we now spend over $12 billion annually on procedures like liposuction, face-lifts, tummy tuck