Photo: Amy Winehouse and her new breast implants last month. (Getty Images photo)

UNLUCKY LADY

As if she didn’t have enough troubles already, singer Amy Winehouse has been hospitalized for treatment of leakage in her breasts, her father says.

The Grammy award-winning singer recently got breast implants and reportedly was considering having more plastic surgery to improve her figure.

Mitch Winehouse told London’s The Sun,”It wasn’t because she had a cold. She’s fine, she just had a little (Mitch points to his chest) leaky something or other.”

Plastic surgeon Dr. John Di Saia of San Clemente and Huntington Beach was skeptical about reports that the implants themselves were leaking.

“It is unlikely that an implant would be leaking this early but anything is possible. Hopefully she just had a minor wound problem,” he wrote in his Truth in Cosmetic Surgery blog.

Winehouse, who has struggled with substance abuse, spent several days in the hospital for what was originally reported as a drug reaction related to cold remedies.

People magazine said, “She had taken some over-the-counter cures for a cold, and they reacted with other medication in her system.”

People also quoted Mitch Winehouse as pleased with his daughter’s plastic surgery, saying that her newly enlarged bust was “great.”

An unnamed source close to Amy Winehouse said the plastic surgery helped her feel “really good about herself … She’s been saying how she wants to get back in the gym.”

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OC AND VALLEY HO

This week’s episode of “Real Housewives of Orange County” didn’t follow up on the plastic-surgery plans of Lynne Curtin and her daughter, who visited Dr. Milind Ambe last week.

I wouldn’t mention it here except that TV enthusiast Michael Hewitt, The Watcher, wrote a hilarious account of this week’s show titled “‘Real Housewives’ Watchalong: Dull on the rocks.”

Among the least of his jibes was his account of the introduction of the surgically enhanced new Housewife, Alexis Bellino (pictured):

Alexis and Jim have been married four years and have three children: a 3-year-old son and 20-month-old twin girls. “We both wanted to have a very structured family life where God was first, our marriage was second and our children were third,” Alexis says.

That’s craziness! Where does plastic surgery rank? And booze? If those aren’t higher than the kids, you have no business being on this show, lady.

More typical is The Watcher’s description of the introductory sequence of Thursday’s show:

The episode opens in the familiar Orange County community of Scottsdale, Ariz. We watch an SUV pull into the – get this – Hotel Valley Ho, a place the producers could not possibly have picked accidentally.

Gretchen and Slade emerge from the car, Slade now sporting the subtitle “Gretchen’s boyfriend,” and check into the Valley Ho. I may never tire of typing “Valley Ho.”

If you need a laugh, CLICK HERE to check out his watchalong review.

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Photo: Bo Derek a year ago, shortly before her 52nd birthday. (Getty Images photo)

‘I’M ONE OF THEM’

Actress Bo Derek, 53, says she’s sometimes scared of how age is affecting her face, but she resists the temptations of plastic surgery, Botox and injectable fillers.

“When you look at women who have had plastic surgery, they have lost something — usually an expression, something unique to their faces,” she told London’s Mail Online.

“They start to look the same. I’ve always admired the women who didn’t do it, so I have to keep reminding myself that I’m one of them and not the other.”

She doesn’t discuss the experience of looking in the mirror. She says photos are what sometimes upset her.

“When I look at some photographs of myself, I think, ‘Oh, I look all right,’ ” she said. “But, in others, I scare myself; I wish I had my old skin.”

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SHARED BIRTHDAY

A prominent abstainer from cosmetic medicine and a prominent user of lip-plumping injections share a birthday today.

Actress Jodie Foster, 47, (pictured) says bluntly, “It’s not my thing.” She’d rather hear people say she has a bad nose than say she had a bad nose job, she says.

“I’d rather have a comment about who I am than about something that identifies me as being ashamed of who I am,” Foster said.

Actress Meg Ryan, 48, (see slide show above) doesn’t say a lot about plastic surgery, but she has often been criticized for having excessive injections of filler to plump up her lips.

Dermatologist Dr. David Sire of Fullerton, for example, says he sees signs of filler around her mouth and in her lips. She is much fuller there, he says.

The cosmetic work is overdone, he says. “One of the keys of cosmetic enhancement is to leave the person looking natural. The goal is to look relaxed or refreshed, not changed,” Sire says.

Related links:

• A fresh new face for Madonna
• Injecting youth into Madonna, Sharon and Meg

Slide shows:

• Celebrity birthdays: Who’s another year older Nov. 19?
• Madonna from 1990 to now
• Top celebrity slide shows of all time
• Emmy awards game — Spot the Botox
• Secret nose jobs abound in Hollywood
• Then and now — Lindsay Lohan looks old at 23
• 10 years of perky Kelly Ripa
• Celebrity nose jobs: Some botched, some beautiful
• Stars’ botched plastic surgeries
• Victoria Beckham breast test

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Photos: Above, country singer and actress Reba McEntire, who reportedly has had a facelift. Below, the expanded bust of actress Nicole Kidman has aroused suspicions that she has gotten breast implants. (Getty Images photos)

DOLLY PARTON IS JUST FOR STARTERS

Many country musicians are fond of plastic surgery, and the crowd at last week’s Country Music Association awards in Nashville was no exception.

Dolly Parton, the queen of country plastic, showed up early to celebrate the release of her “Live From London” DVD on Monday, Nov. 9.

On Wednesday, Nov. 11, participants and onlookers for awards ceremony included the following celebrities whose reliance on cosmetic medicine quickly became a topic of discussion:

• Actress Nicole Kidman (pictured at right), the wife of country singer Keith Urban. Pictures of her low-cut gown stirred up the blogosphere, with plastic surgeon Dr. Tony Youn concluding that she had gotten breast implants. But she told Ladies Home Journal that her breasts grew when she was pregnant last year, and have stayed large since then.
• Singers Naomi and Wynonna Judd. “It is rumored that both women have been under the knife for facelifts, browlifts, and eyelid lifts. In addition … they both seem to have had Botox and fillers added to their lips,” plastic surgeon Dr. Jennifer Walden told MakeMeHeal.com.
• Singer Kellie Pickler, who got her breast implants about two years ago. They were a sensation at last year’s Country Music Awards show. This blog’s slide show “Kellie Pickler breast implants in spotlight” remains the most popular one in the “In Your Face” archive.

See the new slide show “Plastic surgery, Nashville style” for a full report on those stars and also on:

• Barbara Mandrell
• Carrie Underwood
• Faith Hill
• Reba McEntire (pictured above)
• Martina McBride
• LeAnn Rimes
• Patricia Heaton
• Lee Ann Womack
• Taylor Swift

Not all of those celebrities have been plastic surgery patients.

The most prominent among the abstainers is Swift, 19, who was named Entertainer of the Year. She won that an award without help from cosmetic medicine.

Related posts:

• Plastic surgery enthusiasts at country music awards (April 2009)
• Kellie Pickler breast implants in spotlight
• Kenny Rogers regrets plastic surgery but is hopeful

‘KELLIE PICKLER BREAST IMPLANTS’ slide show

• MTV AND PLASTIC SURVEY — It plays a starring role at MTV awards show
• MILEY CYRUS — Age 16 going on 20
• KELLIE AND NICOLE — Pickler’s breasts, Kidman’s Botox

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The bleach explains the change in Sosa’s skin, which has occurred from May (the left-hand photo) to this month (the photo on the right). It doesn’t explain why he would want to bleach his skin.

Sure, he wants to moisturize it, but plenty of moisturizers don’t change the skin’s color. Sosa’s choice of a bleaching agent might suggest that he has bought into the attitude that lighter skin is more attractive.

It’s an attitude that is pervasive in many cultures, and not just ones that are predominantly white. Among of natives of many Caribbean islands, lighter skin is often preferred.

In the Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage, for example, the definition for “light-skinned” is illustrated by this quote: “In Toronto, he would have called her ‘mixed,’ but at home, here, she would be regarded as one of the sought-after light-skinned women.” And this one: “In such a milieu, the light-skin guy … was an Adonis.”

A headline on “The Root,” a Web site that presents “a variety of black perspectives,” states that “Sammy Sosa’s new vampire complexion is a jarring reminder that, from the Dominican Republic to Dakar to New Delhi, white is still right, yellow is still mellow and if you’re black, get back.” That article by Shiwani Srivastava adds:

To be fair, it’s certainly not just Sammy Sosa, the Dominican Republic and India. It’s Japan, Malaysia, Cuba, Iran, Britain, Singapore, Mexico, Sri Lanka … the list goes on and on. The skin lightening cream industry is a $432 million a year industry in India, $7 billion a year industry in China—and it’s growing globally.

A similar attitude is present in the United States.

In a blog elsewhere on “The Root,” writer Jada F. Smith states:

Black entertainment has made little progress in the last century when it comes to colorism. Both dark- and light-skinned blacks continue to be cast in roles that perpetuate stereotypes within our own community. Light-skinned people are good; dark-skinned people are bad. Light-skinned people live comfortably; dark-skinned people live in the projects.

Don’t believe that colorism is still seeping into our psyches? Read Monique Fields’ piece about her 4-year-old daughter who told her, “Brown people drive old cars.”

Smith sees the same attitudes cropping up in the highly praised film “Precious” and elsewhere in popular culture, where blacks sometimes discriminate against people whose skin is darker than a “brown paper bag”:

Call it overanalyzing, but is it a coincidence that Precious’ dark-skinned mother is physically and verbally abusive, her dark-skinned father is a drug addict who rapes her, and the main character herself is a dark-skinned 16-year-old mother of two? Meanwhile, the teacher, social worker and nurse who uplift and bring positivity into her life are all light-skinned. …

Pretty much every other Tyler Perry film has a dark-skinned male aggressor and light-skinned male savior (Shemar Moore vs. Steve Harris in “Diary of a Mad Black Woman” and Blair Underwood vs. Boris Kodjoe in “Madea’s Family Reunion.”)

When a character gets replaced on a sitcom, their complexion usually gets lighter (from Janet Hubert-Whitten to Daphne Maxwell-Reid on “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” and Jazz Raycole to Jennifer Freeman on “My Wife and Kids.”)

And the biggest black entertainers right now could probably all pass a brown paper bag test (Beyoncé, Rihanna, Halle Berry, Mariah Carey, Tyra Banks, Alicia Keys).

Plastic surgeon and blogger Dr. John Di Saia of San Clemente and Huntington Beach thinks Sosa has gone too far. “He is likely using hydroquinone with a good sun screen. Dramatic results (maybe too dramatic). … I would have liked it maybe half as light, but he didn’t ask me,” Di Saia wrote on his blog.

In an interview, Sosa told NPR that he might help the the product’s manufacturer with marketing. That would be a change from the typical pattern of denial that Srivastava cites:

The thing is, despite the popularity of skin lightening creams, no one wants to admit that they use them. …

Now it turns out [Sosa] may want to endorse the cream as a spokesman. Oh, Sammy. If he does, he’ll join the ranks of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan (think South Asian Tom Cruise, minus the Scientology), who came under fire for his advertisements endorsing a new skin lightening cream for men in India.

This would be yet another blow in the long line of attempts to spread the word that some people happen to like dark brown skin, thank you very much, from the Black Is Beautiful movement in the U.S. in the ‘60s and ‘70s to the recent Dark Is Beautiful campaign in India.

But Srivastava thinks Sosa’s acknowledgement of what he’s doing could be a positive step.

It might “start an important dialogue about what hydroquinone actually does to your skin, about treating skin conditions that really do affect people of color and about the difficulty of finding makeup as a brown woman—even today,” Srivastava writes. “Maybe we’ll start talking honestly about our deeply rooted preferences and prejudices that make skin lightening a multi-billion-dollar industry worldwide.”

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She and her cosmetic treatments were recently featured in this blog’s post, “CSI: Plastic Surgery … the case remains a mystery.”

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• Nov. 16 birthdays
  

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Readers who saw it in Sunday’s newspaper were especially critical. They sent a volley of emails my way, telling me I was smug, disdainful, uninformed, biased, in need of a makeover, and should be silenced.

My description of radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh as “often nasty” put me on the wrong side on Limbaugh’s supporters. In contrast, despite my description of celebrity blogger Perez Hilton as “often nasty,” people accused me of being an ally of his.

Online readers who commented on “Carrie Prejean = just an awkward college kid” tended to be a bit less harsh on me and more on the specifics of the commentary:

HOMOSEXUAL COMMUNITY: Colin Stewart is siding with the militant homosexual community, which seeks always to intimidate and attack and silence anyone who does not support, indeed “respect” homosexual acts. Sorry, but I have to side with a beautiful young woman, flawed though she may be. You can have Perez Hilton, Colin.

SELDOM NASTY: Mr. Stewart, do you even listen to Limbaugh’s show? Nasty? Seldom. Sardonic? Could be. But if you want nasty, try Keith Olbermann.

Comments on the print version in Sunday’s O.C. Register focused more on me. That’s partly because those readers’ comments were in emails to me, but perhaps also has something do with the ways that newspaper readers differ from online readers. Here are some of the emailed comments:

SALVATION: Nasty conservative, why because he is against gay marriage? … Look up what God did to two cities called Sodom and Gommorah, you can ask any one who studies archeology, the cities are located underneath the dead sea. You can still be saved, Colin. God says all who call on his name will be save the name that is above every name Jesus Christ. God bless you.

MILLIONS: [Rush Limbaugh is] nasty. But he’s got, what, millions of listeners. You’ve got, what, 20 regular readers. I’m not much of a Rush fan, but what’s your point? Trying to be witty?

CUT IT: Your agenda was exposed in the 2nd paragraph [which mentions Limbaugh]. I suppose if Carrie had lied and given the answer … Hilton had wanted,and maybe you wanted, your opinion of her would be different? … I also wish the Register would cut the cable on your computer.

BIAS: Okay, Colin, the obvious question just has to be asked… if Miss Prejean had answered the question the other way, would she still be “wet-behind-the ears,” a “stumbling kid, not a viewpoint?” Of course not. She would be considered highly astute, forward-thinking, mature for her age, wise beyond her years etc.. .. Your own personal bias wrote the column.

DISDAIN: Shame on you for using the Register to spew your disdain for this woman. Reading your piece is one of the reasons that many of the regular, long time readers are having some second thoughts about renewing our subscriptions. I suppose now next Sunday you will follow it with a hit piece on that idiot Perez Hilton? I won’t hold my breath. Keep it all up, and you and the other Register columnists will be out of a job.

HIT PIECE: Nice hit piece. You must be very pleased with yourself trying to tear down this young woman. I would have expected to find this article in the editorial section of the Left Angeles Times.

SMUG: Thanks for the pictures of Carrie in your article. Too bad you added your smug, uninformed commentary. Your column exemplifies why the newspaper business is in its death throes. … Listen to someone I’m certain you have the greatest love and admiration for – yourself. To paraphrase you, cut the wire on your keyboard and get a real job. But first get a makeover from the neck up.

One reader expressed disgust with both the column and Prejean:

HORRIBLE: I never respond to articles but yours today on Carrie Prejean was horrible and I don’t even think there should be space for anything on or about her.

One lone reader said she liked it:

HELPFUL: I totally agree with you on this one! People should start looking at her as “a person, not a viewpoint,” like you said, and that maybe she should step down until she can get her act together and make statements that don’t sound so contradictory. At first I thought you were going to call her an idiot like everyone else, but when I actually read the article, I found a lot of information that could save me from messing up in my naivety just like her, even if it’s just everyday life. … Thanks so much for writing this article! I totally appreciate it!

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IT’S NOT FAKE, DOC SAYS

Post-surgical photos of Lynne Curtin that Bravo TV distributed to promote “Real Housewives of Orange County” were accurate, not fakes, says plastic surgeon Dr. Milind Ambe of Newport Beach.

Ambe performed two cosmetic procedures on her, he said in an interview: an endoscopic brow lift (which involves a smaller incision than a traditional brow lift) and a lower face and neck lift.

He chuckled at the suggestion in this blog’s “Plastic surgery tour of Real Housewives” slide show that Bravo’s publicity photo “seems to owe more to the talents of a Photoshop artist than to the skills of her plastic surgeon.”

Photos from Bravo show Curtin before the procedures, left, and after them, right.

In last week’s episode, Ambe met with Curtin to discuss the upcoming operation. He told her, “You’ll look about 12 to13 years younger. I think that’s a reasonable expectation.” He also said:

It looks like more your issue is the brow position rather than upper eyelid skin.
This is where you’re going to see a big difference. [He says that while pulling up on the skin on the side of her face.] … We do this [pulling up skin along the jaw] at the same time as we bring the brow up. I think it’s going to be a really nice look for you. It will be very conservative.

Curtin said, “I feel like my face has fallen and it can’t get up. [Raquel] keeps telling me, ‘You’re fine the way you are.’ I don’t want to be fine.”

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