What price beauty? Should we put our lives on the line for glamour? Has vanity become a vice?

           I have to raise these questions because of the recent death of Donda West, the mother of hip-hop star Kanye West, as well as hundreds of other deaths from cosmetic surgery who will not be dramatized.

           Despite the tragic side of cosmetic surgery, the practice of dying to look good grows unabated.
           Cosmetic surgery is a booming industry.  In 2006 more than 10 million cosmetic procedures were performed nationally says the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.

  Sure there are good reasons for such procedures as liposuction, especially when the treat of diabetes, stroke and heart attacks is so endemic among African-American women.
           Yet in come cases, this is a quick fix that avoids the issues of discipline, eating right and exercise. I think more of us should cut the fat by putting down our knife and fork than going under the surgeon’s knife.

           TV seldom shows us the real deal.  TV reports don't show us the victims, the women with deformed breast, frozen faces from botox, the incision infections or the multiple operations that often follow.
           The biggest reason for the tragic results is poor trained doctors, many of whom conduct highly technical surgeries in offices instead of in hospitals where emergency equipment is needed. When greed and the need for glamour mix that is risky business.
           Today we are going to examine this obsession with glamour.  Is the risk of dying to look good a price too high to pay or is the outcome worth the risk? 
           With us to sort out these issues are our regular panelists, Traycee Gales, Mertine Moore Khalilah Joi, Actress (The Bachelorette Party) and Darlene Brown.