Habits and Hustle - Episode 580: Plastic Surgery, Comparison, and the Hidden Cost of Chasing Perfection

Episode Date: August 14, 2026

What if changing your face has nothing to do with how you feel about yourself? Plastic surgery has become more normalized, more accessible, and more visible than ever. We watch people document facelifts, nose jobs, injectables, and cosmetic procedures in real time, which can make major medical decisions feel as casual as booking a facial. But the polished before-and-after photo rarely shows the full story.  Social media, filters, Zoom, and constantly seeing ourselves in photos and on video have changed the way we evaluate our appearance. We notice every angle, compare our real faces to edited ones, and start believing that changing one feature will finally make us feel more confident. But a procedure can alter your appearance without changing the way you see yourself. If the insecurity underneath it is never addressed, you may simply find something new to criticize. The real question is not always "What should I change?" Sometimes it is "Why do I believe changing this will make me feel better?" Cosmetic procedures are personal decisions, but they should never be treated casually. Understanding the risks, researching the doctor, asking specific questions about recovery, and being honest about your expectations matter far more than following a trend or choosing the surgeon with the biggest social media following. In this episode of Habits and Hustle, I share how social media and filters are changing the way we see ourselves, why plastic surgery may not fix the insecurity underneath it, what people rarely tell you about complications and recovery, and why online popularity does not necessarily make someone the best surgeon for the job. What's Discussed: (02:15) Why plastic surgery has become more normalized, accessible, and visible than ever. (03:55) How a nose job led to breathing problems, complications, and multiple corrective procedures. (05:41) Why the polished before-and-after rarely shows the full risks of cosmetic surgery. (07:03) Why researching a surgeon's aesthetic style and medical expertise matters. (08:42) Why cosmetic procedures are far more invasive than social media makes them appear. (10:36) How confidence and the way you carry yourself can shape how attractive you feel. (12:00) Why constantly seeing ourselves on cameras, Zoom, and social media may damage self-image. (13:11) How filters and edited photos are changing what people ask surgeons to create. (14:05) Why natural-looking plastic surgery has become the newest status symbol. (17:28) Why a surgeon's social media popularity does not necessarily reflect their skill. (20:29) Why fixing one insecurity may only give you something else to criticize.   Thank You to Our Sponsors! Magic Mind: Head over to magicmind.com/jen and use code JEN at checkout. Momentous: Ready to try supplements that actually do what they claim? Head to livemomentous.com and use code JEN for 35% off your first subscription.  Therasage: Visit therasage.com and use code JEN to get 15% off your order. Your skin Prolon: Prolon is offering listeners 30% off sitewide plus a $40 bonus gift when you subscribe to their 5-Day Program! Just visit prolonlife.com/JENNIFERCOHEN and use code JENNIFERCOHEN to claim your discount and your bonus gift. Kion: Visit getkion.com/habits for 20% off. Tru Niagen®: For supplements that are rigorously tested, third-party verified, and actually deliver what's on the label, head to truniagen.com Find more from Jen Cohen: Website: jennifercohen.com Instagram: @therealjencohen Books: jennifercohen.com/books Speaking: jennifercohen.com/speaking-engagements  

Hi guys, it's Tony Robbins. You're listening to Habits and Hustle. Crush it. Welcome to Habits and Hustle, where I sit down with the biggest thinkers, entrepreneurs, athletes, and experts to uncover the habits, strategies, and mindset shifts that actually move the needle on your health, happiness, and success. And today, on this solo episode, we are talking about plastic surgery. It has become more normalized, more accessible, and more visible than ever. We watch people document facelifts, nose jobs, injectables, and cosmetic procedures in real time, which can make major medical decisions feel as casual as booking a facial. But behind the polish before and after photos, there can be real complications, long recoveries, and the uncomfortable reality that fixing one insecurity may only give you another one to focus on. So in this episode, I share how social media, filter, Zoom, and the fact that we are constantly seeing our own

faces and photos and on video is changing the way we view ourselves and why cosmetic procedures may not fix the insecurity underneath them, what people should understand about the risks and recovery and why a surgeon's popularity online does not necessarily make them the best person for the job. Before diving in, if you're listening right now and you've gotten somewhere or something out of this show, do me a big favor. Please hit subscribe if you haven't already and leave a review of your own. I really appreciate those. I read every single one of them and it really makes a difference on getting the show to more people. So with that being said, let's dive in. Welcome, welcome, welcome back to another episode of Habits and Hustle solo edition where I am joined by

my friend and friend and colleague, Shawnee Suisse. Shawnee Suisseau, yes, yes, yes. But before we go into this episode, I will love to remind people, if you have not yet subscribed to this podcast, please do so. It makes a massive difference in the algorithm and all these things that are on the back end that I had no idea about. So for the last seven years, I've been remiss in telling people. So if you have not yet, please, please hit the button and also share it with your friends because that makes a massive difference. So thank you very much. And if you're listening to this, there's all the video episodes up on YouTube, which you can subscribe to Jen's channel on there as well. Thank you,

Shawnee. You're welcome. On these solos, typically what we do is we, if you have not, if you're just joining us or haven't listened to any episodes, what we do in these solos is we kind of just explore hot takes. Like it's very much like a conversation. And today I want to talk, and also I should say conversations that are kind of in these eye guys that are kind of trending that are kind of like happening in real time a lot. And the one thing that I really want to talk to you about, Sean, because we talked about it. We kind of touched upon it in another solo, but we didn't really get into it. And I'm sure a lot of you guys who are on social media and just kind of like in the world, in the world. Just living out there. Right, living out there. A really big thing that I'm noticing a huge uptick in is plastic surgery. I mean, I remember like when I was a kid, if anyone got anything done, it was a humongous secret. Nobody talked about it. It was definitely. not like video, it was definitely not like talked about and videotaped and shown in real time when someone's getting their facelifted. Right. Come with me. You got a facelift. Yeah. Or like, I'm talking to

nine doctors. Look at this. Like I've never seen such a, such a craziness in something like this is one of these things that I think is trending and upticking. And I know why. I think it's because everyone is comparing themselves to other people. It's because we're in the world of video. and Zoom and I know myself because now I'm I'm on social obviously I do this podcast I'm I see myself constantly so you see every imperfection everything and it's I understand it's it's so consuming and it's really easy to go down that rabbit hole but I also believe and I shouldn't say but and I also believe like whatever happened to being happy with what God gave you and kind of just enhance, like, you know, kind of being natural, right? And I understand it because I'm like now in

this age, right? Like, I'm middle age and I'm like, oh, shit. Like, look at my, look at my face. My face is falling and I never liked my nose and I didn't do this. But like, I'm just fearful, to be honest. But you said something that we should be as I should be because you said something that was really important. And I want you to say that again. Because you've said that kind of like in a passing moment, which I think people can, people can possibly, people should hear that. Please say it again. Well, I said that, you know, I got my nose done. I got a nose job.

And I, you know, I didn't. Like recently. A couple years ago. And I, you know, I didn't do much to it. It's not like we took down like a crazy amount. But I don't feel like it changed my face like astronomically to the point where the cost that it has cost me were worth it because had a lot of complications. You know, I had a massive septum perforation left in my in my septum, which is just a huge hole in my septum from the first surgery. And I had to get that fixed.

I also had my turbinates reduced as well because I had a rhinoplasty, septoplasty, and a turbinate reduction. People don't know what those are. Basically what happened was. Right. Rhinoplasti is the outside. Septoplasty is fixing the septum. So it's deviated. They fix that. But when they fix the deviated septum, they don't actually make it straight.

They just cut out the crooked part and put the tissue on top of it and hope it heals. Mine did not. It healed with a perforation. And then I had a turbinate reduction, which is there's these little flaps inside of your nose that are called turbinates. and they help create what's called turbinate airflow, which warms up your air, humidifies it before as it goes to your throat. And one of the reasons why I originally even got the surgery was because my breathing was so bad and I was having to mouth breathe so much.

And so I always had like strep throat and tonsillitis and just so many annoying throat conditions. And the surgery left me with honestly more complications than I had originally. My breathing has been more labored. It's a lot harder for me to breathe. I now because my nose is smaller, I have smaller canals, which is already also an issue. shoe. And I don't think I should have gotten my turbanants reduced at all, which is something nobody should ever actually do. And I really encourage people to never do it. My sister, by the way, got a nose job when she was like 16, like really young. And she's never breathed properly since.

Yeah. Yeah. So what I, this is, this is, this is the part that I really wanted to focus on is the fact that we all see and hear about all the wonderful things. Like, oh yeah, like, people are like, go queen. If it makes you feel better. Yeah. Go for it. But no one never talks about like the other potential. like the complications that can happen or like how much does it really make a difference right like does it does it really like you just said earlier like you know what yeah like does it make you that much more beautiful because you got the nose it did not turn me into straight victoria secret model like that was not the but i also didn't get like a dramatic one you know what i mean like i think maybe there are different you did actually by the way yeah but not but not compared to what the like i had consoles with people who wanted to like chop it off like they wanted to go like little button nose you know Have you looked in the mirror? Yeah, but have you seen other nose drawn? Have you, but have you seen turt? But Jen, it's still quite a nose.

Have you seen people from Turkey who come in? It's still downturned. I'm not like, I love you, but you're also not looking at my face like I'm looking at my face. I've been to doctors. Like, this is the whole thing. There are people who wanted to literally go and do a this. Oh, you mean to a slope? Yeah, or like a butt in nose or this.

So many people get, like, different doctors will do different things. And that's really important for people to know. because a lot of doctors have different aesthetics, and you have to understand the doctor that you're going to. And, you know, I did do a significant amount of research. Not enough. Not enough. You need to do way more, and you need to make sure that the person you're going to

has both the aesthetic understanding of what it is you're looking for and also the internal, like, functions of your organs to make sure that you're not messing things up in the long run. Let me take a quick break to tell you about something that has genuinely changed how I perform throughout the day. For years, I just assumed that my mental sharpness had a ceiling, that by mid-afternoon, I was running on fumes, slower to think, harder to focus, and even a little more irritable than I wanted to be.

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So don't forget to check out magicmind.com to find out the stores near you and get 50% off your first order at, of course, magicmind.com. You said a couple things. You said like, well, maybe now my nose is too small for my face because that way you can't. For my anatomy. I think I needed a bigger bridge. You know what I mean? Yeah, no, for my face, visually, I like it. Yeah, visually.

I'm happy with that. But I don't know that it's worth the, like, health things it's caused. me. Well, listen, at the end of the day, this is what I want to talk about. Like, like, where, at what point, because you're just, you're just one person who, who've had that experience. Right. I'm just more curious. Like, where, again, where is this line drawn? Like, does it really, like, maybe, I don't know. This is just me, like, talking and riffing with you. Like, how much does it really make a difference? You know what I mean? Like, that's what I'm curious because, like, I don't like my nose either. Maybe I should get, I'm too scared of a needle, not a needle. I am scared of needles, too, but of going

out. Like the thing is like this is a thing. If I didn't have to be out for the count afterwards for six weeks because I need to exercise for my mental health. Like that's the thing. Maybe I would have gotten in my nose now. I just didn't want to like have that downtime. I'm still swollen. Years later, I went to a dermatologist just last week for my laser facial, which is why I'm healing. And it's literally, he was like you're still very swollen. Really? Yeah. How long has it been? Two years. It was two years. And you're still still. swollen. Yeah, but that it takes like time. Like, I mean, obviously not the same that I was swollen, you know, from the first year of surgery, but it takes time. Like, these things are, you're,

you're going in and really, like, messing with your body. And people don't understand the severity of that necessarily. Well, because that's the thing, right? Everyone's so flipping. They're like, yeah, just go get your nose down. So big deal. Like, you'll be fun. Like, just go, or just go get your boobs down or just go get your face. It's not casual. Like, people are, like, making it sound like a facelift is like literally going to Starbucks for a latte. Right. I'm like, not casual. Yeah. I'm like, um, that seems. That seems. That seems. It seems not so casual. Seems like very, very invasive and scary. Even this laser facial, which, like, they were like zero downtime, zero downtime, zero downtime. Then I get the instructions for aftercare and it's like, stay out of the sun for two weeks, do this, do that. Like, that's not zero downtime. What kind of facial? Zero downtime is I can go and do every single thing that I was just doing before and look exactly the same. But downtime is different for people. Like everybody, everybody talks about it in different ways. And I think you have to get really specific about what that's going to look like for you. But I just would really caution people. I don't think people shouldn't do it. You know, I think that my situation could have been prevented by a number of different ways. I just think you really want to do a lot of research on your doctor. Don't go to the cheapest person. Don't go to someone who's going to save you money. Never consider cost. And if cost is a heavy.

factor for you, then don't do it. Wait till you can actually afford to go to someone who's not going to mess you up. I mean, genuinely, it's one of those things. Don't cheap out on. You know, a lot of people try and, like, they'll go here, just don't. Just go to someone good. But the problem is, though, Shawnee, because now it's become so popular, like, that the prices have also skyrocketed. So something that maybe would have cost $8,000. Right. Now cost $20,000. So that's why you said earlier, people are, like, flying to Turkey, like, by the droves. So there's all these funny pictures I'm seeing of like the planes full of people with the hair transplant. With like the bandages all over their faces and heads because of all the different things happening.

So I mean, or they're going to Tijuana or Mexico to get these things on. But like I guess my point is a little bit different than what you're saying. And that is that like, you know, I think beauty comes from like if you from within. If you are someone who is confident and carries yourself a certain way and is like happy with her. who you are and what you look like, that's really hot. I do think so. I don't know. Yes and no.

I think that I think it depends on the scenario. There's some people who I've seen and I'm like, yeah, you really needed that. Listen. I'm like that that really helped you. Like that's like night and day game changer. Like that's crazy. The caveat to what I'm saying is I am not begrudging anyone. I like I said, I'm putting myself out there saying if I wasn't such a scarity cat,

I probably would have done something by now. but I'm just a scaredy cat. And so I chose to focus on how to do the best I can with what I was given. Which is honestly great. And I think that we need more examples of that because it's kind of like just become non-existent. But it's hard. We're living in a time when like you keep on, we get constantly reminded of like, oh.

And like it plays psychological tricks on us. Like we think, oh, you mean you could just get a facelift and you'll be good to go like in a few days. No, you will not be good to go. We should be, people should be a little bit more up front and honest about what the possible complications and like what the downtime is. And like, in like real life, who has all this ability to have downtime and not do anything for weeks on end? I mean, humans were not built to see themselves.

We were not created to see our reflections. We were not created to see our own outer casings. We just were not, you know, and cameras and mirrors and all these things are modern inventions that have honestly really degraded our own personal self-love. And I think that, like, a lot of people, you know, had we been born in the 1800s, would be considered quite beautiful human beings. I think I'm also probably just stating things too polyanically, like, oh, yeah, why don't we just love the way we look?

I'm not trying to sound that way. If I do, I apologize. I get what you're saying because I don't mean it that way. I really don't. But I think we would be like that and able to do what you're saying more if we just didn't have like these cameras and these angles. It's like, we were not meant to know what we look like from the back. of our head. No, I think, this is what I think. I think pre-COVID when we didn't have, we weren't

forced to stare at each other on Zoom and we didn't have social media to the extent we have it and all these things. Like, there was a reason why it wasn't like, it wasn't like everyone in their dog running to get surgery, like people that you would never expect, people who were dropped it even beautiful. I can't believe I even did it. I was such a, like I was so against it for so long. I was scared. And I also just thought it was crazy. You know what someone said to me also was kind of around COVID time too, but like Snapchat filters, which was maybe before. Yeah. Snapchat filters and then face app and all the face filters. Like a lot of doctors say that people come in with like filtered examples or AI or whatever now and they're like, I want this,

you know, done to me. So, you know, that's definitely, I think, taken a toll. But it's also become way more accessible now for people. Well, way more accessible. Way more accessible. Everybody and their mother, like, I mean, it's just not even funny how accessible it is. How many people do you know? The med spa on every corner in the city. Oh, that was what I was going to say. I don't, but by the way, that could just be in L.A., New York, Miami. Of course. These Metspahs are popping up like like Starbucks. But it's so, but Metspa is also in other like cities all over the world.

But like, but I just do think that there, it's become and more common and it's so much easier to get to. Actually, hilarious headline that came out recently, which was that celebrities, now that plastic surgery is becoming so much more accessible and the low class poor people of the world are getting plastic surgery, celebrities are going back to their. natural cell form. Yes, I know. Did you see that? Yeah, I saw that. And that's the whole other discussion, which is like, okay, so now the upper echelon is going on natural. Okay, did you hear that? But they just convinced us into doing all of this plastic surgery. I love that that. Okay, so I was going to bring that up. That was part of my notes in the in this segment. I want to repeat that because that's very interesting, that now because in, there's a, there's a big headline about this. Yeah. That the, because now everybody in their

dog is getting so much surgery, the celebrities now feel like they are kind of like, kind of like, kind of like part of the whole, you know, basically the common folk. The common folk. So now they're going, oh, natural. They're like not getting surgery. They're not wearing makeup. Well, they are getting surgery. They are wearing makeup, but they're doing it way more natural. And that's the thing is that now, but those cost a lot of money. So like to get the supernatural nose job or the supernatural eye lift, it's going to cost you 10x the cost, right? So now it's becoming out of reach. So now shittier plastic surgery that's a bit more generic, a bit more of this is so accessible, but the fine-tuned, fine touch, perfect whatever, that's far more expensive.

Same thing with like filler and Botox. Like, you could just go to any medspa and get shut up like crazy. You'll look a little insane. Or you could spend, you know, 2x the cost per unit and go to somebody who's going to make you look exactly like your teenage self. 10x, X, I'm sure. No, for meds spa stuff is like 2x. But like, as in to say, like a really good person, now instead of it being so obvious,

they're trying to make you all natural. It's like a whole, it's honestly funny how they flip the script, but they always do that, right? What becomes accessible to the poor must then become inaccessible to the rich versus vice versa. Like you must always maintain that, that separation, that class. Yeah. It's going to, but also like facelifts are insane. The cost of a facelift, I don't know that people understand.

Oh my God. There are, these facelves are like $250,000. No more. But can I tell you something? It's fucking crazy. Fancy people. I have my hair. Yeah, $250,000, Jen. My hair colorist, okay, my hair colorist.

Okay, she's 68 years old. I'm going to shout out to her and she, she wouldn't care if I said this. She's 68. She literally looks 40. I love that. Okay. Oh, I'm sure she wouldn't mind if you said that. No, no, no. She got a lower facelift by a really good dog, but she always looked really.

But this is my point. But she also probably looked so good before. Her and I talked about this actually yesterday. Right. When I got my hair done. She said to me, And it's so true. It's like if you are pretty before, you're going to be pretty after. If you're ugly before, you're going to be uglier with a tighter face after.

It's not going to change, like what you said earlier, but your nose, it's not going to make you gorgeous because you're changing what. Like, if you're, if you are something before, you're going to still be that just enhanced. Yeah. You know, I believe it. So my point is she was really pretty before. She looked really young before. So with this, but she went to a guy who is like super under the radar. Nobody knows him. He's not on social media. And he was $24,000 for her lower facelift.

And it is incredible. Oh, well, that's it. It's steel. Okay? But also, he just does the work and doesn't need the whole hoopla around him. And he's so busy, he doesn't need to be on social. This is what I think. Let me finish this.

Which is important. I think the second, a plastic surgeon puts himself on social, right away psychologically, I think he's not as good as somebody who's not on there. A hundred percent. They're spending more time creating content. and creating whatever it is, their surgeries that they're doing. Absolutely. And it's a big red flag to me when I see that. It's a massive red flag. So this is my big hot take or takeaway. Maybe try to find a doctor who's not trying to be famous on social media. I'd be a social media plastic

surgeon and find one that's just super good and their head is down doing the actual work offline. And you're going to save yourself also 90% of the money. Because the doctors I see who are in social, they are charging 10, 20 times. We're talking like the $300,000 facial, the $500,000 facial. And they say it's because they're doing this special thing like deplane, this, meanwhile, you go talk to the doctor that my hairdresser went to and he's like, we all do deep plane or we all do this, we all do that. We're just not like, I'm just not blabbing about it on social media and charging you

500,000. But that guy that Kim, you know, obviously, not Kim, Chris Jenner went to, Dr. Klein, I think it's his name? I'm not sure. I don't know. I don't know if he was a social media guy or not. I'm not sure. No, he just, she, she blew him up. Because other people were taking credit for his work, so she dropped his name. She was like, no way. Oh, because I don't think he was a, because he was really good. And then obviously that is going to send you into a stratosphere, you know. True. Without him even trying. He was, he was, he was the only, I think he was the anomaly where he was like extremely expensive, but not necessarily a social media doctor. There's

really high quality doctors that are a fortune who are not very active on social. Yeah. It's not necessarily. No, no, I agree. That's what I meant to say. Yeah, yeah. It's not necessarily indicative of that. They're not always the same.

Yeah, yeah. It's not always correlated. But it does make it. I'm saying 90% of the time that that is the situation. But of course there's some that are in Manhattan who have such a high. Even here in LA. Or Beverly Hills. Who have such a high caliber.

Their patients are so rich that they can charge whatever the hell they want. Or they're very big experts in their field. The guy who did my septum prefer. who I love Jason Hamilton. I think he's, if anyone's looking for a nose person, he is literally the guy to go to. Like, he's such an expert in his class for septums. No, you don't understand. There are very few doctors out there who will actually fix a septum perforation.

Okay, I said, I don't know because I don't know who we are unless. I don't say yes or no. As in there's some doctors, but like if they're very published in their field or if they're very, you know, if they're, like, there are doctors who within their space are incredibly famous in that field, but they're not necessarily famous to the general public. Yeah, of course. Versus like the ones who are like the celebrity's influence or whatever. But I also think that there's like there's some caveats there. You want to kind of feel out what kind of influencery doctor the person is because sometimes they just have a killer team and it's not really them doing much. Or sometimes they care so much about it and they're all caught up and they're all, you know.

And that's not necessarily someone you want. Yeah. No, I totally agree with that. But listen, don't cheap out. It's really important. Love yourself also. And if you have insecurities before, genuinely like you will have them after. That was my point.

That's a good point too. You will have them after. Or you'll find other ones, by the way. Like, you might, you know, like I like my nose. Now I have other shit I don't like. You know what I'm saying? And also I still sometimes nitpick up my nose, right? So true.

Yeah. Okay, that's another great point. On to the next. What else do I got to fit? Like, it's just, you know. I love that. It's so true. It's like when you actually have, now you have that taken care of, you're going to fix it on something else.

Right. You lose weight. You get in shape. You look great. Now all of a sudden you have another, like, thing that you don't like about yourself. Right. Now it's like a little bit of loose skin under the arms. like you never noticed before.

That is human nature. This is human nature. Yeah, 100%. Okay, you guys, I got to wrap this, but Shoddy, you're the best. Thank you for coming again. And don't forget to subscribe. I love the new studio. I'll come back on my face is healed.

Bye. Bye.