Molly O'Brien : I love my nose. It's so cute. It's all small and petite. I mean I went up to my friends and I was like, How does it look? You know the ones that I told. They're like, Well, what exactly did you have done? And I was like, Oh, good. You can't tell.

Female Speaker #1: If you were born with a nose that's like huge and a tiny face like I'm all for like changing it.

Iwana Unescu : Oh, my God, I'm so happy. Yeah. I feel like I have my face back. Like I'm gonna have confidence and be happy.

Jann Carl: The stars are speaking out about their weight. Hi, everybody, I'm Jann Carl.

Mark Steines: And I'm Mark Steines.

Jann Carl: Well, you know, some stars turn to plastic surgery to get the look that they want. Lisa Kudrow and Jennifer Grey have both admitted they went under the knife to get nose jobs. Now, we have the story of a young actress whose nose job turned into a nightmare.

Iwana Unescu: I was very depressed. I didn't leave my house for five months. I mean I felt like I was destroyed. You know, my career, my dreams. I felt like I couldn't work. You know, I felt disfigured.

Jann Carl: Fresh out of high school, Iwana Unescu moved from Seattle to Hollywood with a dream of becoming a star. It wasn't long before a friend introduced her to a talent agent who promised he could make her dreams come true.

Iwana Unescu: He told me, I love your look. You look great. You got a cute little body. Everything is, you know, cute. And then he said, But you have to do something about your nose.

Jann Carl: Iwana says the agent proceeded to point out the imperfections he said would prevent her from becoming a working actress.

Iwana Unescu: I started looking in the mirror. Twenty-four hours a day, I'm like, You know, maybe he's right, looking at my profiles, you know. And so I went ahead. I called him up and he said, I have a friend that'll take care of you. Don't worry about it.

Jann Carl: That friend was a plastic surgeon. Iwana immediately scheduled surgery with the hope that a smaller nose would mean a bright career.

Iwana Unescu: I went and got it done and that was like the beginning of the end for a little while.

Jann Carl: Iwana underwent rhinoplasty surgery but the procedure went terribly wrong. The results were devastating and Iwana was left with a nose that bears little resemblance to the one she went in with.

Iwana Unescu: There's a dent in here. It's like a little small collapse. My tip is clefted right here. I have the bone that sticks out right here. It doesn't on this side, so it makes my nose kind of uneven and like one of my nostrils is higher than the other.

Although I'm still outgoing, I'm not as outgoing as I used to be. I mean I could walk up to anybody and, you know, talk and have a conversation. Now a lot of times when I meet people, I put my face down. I notice that I'm like constantly putting my head down because I think, you know, the first thing they're gonna see is my nose.

Jann Carl: For three years, Iwana put her acting career on hold. She consulted with 13 different plastic surgeons until finally, she met Dr. Paul Nassif, the man she came to believe could correct the damage that was done.

Iwana Unescu: I'm a little nervous but I know I'm in good hands.

Dr. Paul Nassif: You know when patients come in for revision rhinoplasty surgery, it's a very emotional outpouring thing, and they're putting all their trust in you because this is like their final step into making their life back to normal.

Hello?

Iwana Unescu: Hello.

Dr. Paul Nassif: Are you excited?

Iwana Unescu: Yes.

Dr. Paul Nassif: You all ready to go? When someone looks at Iwana, we want them to look at these beautiful eyes. Ignore the nose. And that's our goal today.

Jann Carl: The damage to Iwana's nose was so extensive that cartilage from behind her ear will have to be transplanted to construct a new bridge to her nose. Dr. Nassif would spend 5½ grueling hours on the reconstruction.

Dr. Paul Nassif: It was very difficult. Out of a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the hardest, it was a 15.

Jann Carl: But despite the difficulty, the procedure appears to be a success.

Iwana Unescu: I feel good.

Dr. Paul Nassif: Now, as long as she heals properly, we have hit a homerun.

Jann Carl: Just one week later, Iwana is back in the doctor's office.

Dr. Paul Nassif: Are you excited?

Iwana Unescu: Yes.

Dr. Paul Nassif: Any problems at all?

Iwana Unescu: None.

Jann Carl: It's time for the bandages to come off and for Iwana to see her new nose for the first time.

Iwana Unescu: Anything improved from what I had would definitely be a great thing.

Jann Carl: At first, she's reluctant to look.

Iwana Unescu: Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

Dr. Paul Nassif: You didn't even look at it.

Iwana Unescu: I know. Oh, my God, I'm so happy. Yeah, I feel like I have my face back. Like I'm gonna have confidence and be happy.

Jann Carl: While there's still some swelling, it's apparent that Iwana feels like herself again.

Iwana Unescu: Thank you so much.

Dr. Paul Nassif: My pleasure. My pleasure. She puts ____ on it.

Iwana Unescu: Thank you.

Male Speaker #1: Fifteen-year-old Molly O'Brien also wants to fix her face.

Molly O'Brien: I think the perfection is definitely a ballerina thing.

Male Speaker #1: 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.

Molly O'Brien: Being in a classroom for three hours a day, looking at yourself in the mirror, you know, never taking your eyes off it, you find so many little errors and flaws.

Male Speaker #1: The flaw Molly sees is a small bump left over from a broken nose when she was just two. But it's big enough to make her feel self-conscious.

Molly O'Brien: If I can fix something, I'll do it.

Male Speaker #1: She's also having trouble breathing. So her mother Shelia has given her the okay to get a rhinoplasty, a nose job.

Female Speaker #2: The appearance as a performer is important so we just wanted to take the opportunity while we're doing the surgery for the breathing to refine her nose and just make her whole facial appearance for an audience perfect.

Female Speaker #3: Yes! Yes, yes, yes.

Molly O'Brien: I feel more pressure as a teenager. I mean you get up every morning. You want to do your hair. You want to do your makeup. But as far as dance, you go in there to work your butt off, you know, to get strong, to be healthy. And it was more of, you know, I might look cuter.

Female Speaker #3: Up, up, up, up, up.

Male Speaker #1: Tomorrow, Molly goes under the knife, hoping a new nose will bolster her self-confidence.

Molly O'Brien: I know it's gonna come out good. I mean there's gonna be pain and swelling and stuff, but I just like, Oh, my God. My face is gonna look different after tomorrow!

Male Speaker #1: Beverly Hills is famous for its exclusive shops and fine dining. It's also the epicenter of the cosmetic surgery craze in California, which has more board-certified surgeons than any other state.

Dr. Paul Nassif: Let me go ahead and take some photos.

Male Speaker #1: Molly O'Brien, an aspiring ballerina, never considered going anywhere else to get her nose done.

Dr. Paul Nassif: Perfect. There you go.

Male Speaker #1: Dr. Paul Nassif runs a private practice and specializes in facial plastic surgery.

Dr. Paul Nassif: This one's a funny one. Tilt your head all the way back. There you go. I'm gonna look inside your nose there.

Male Speaker #1: This is his third and final meeting with Molly before her surgery.

Dr. Paul Nassif: Perfect. How bad does the hump bother you? Do your friends tease you or ?

Molly O'Brien: Oh, no, not at all. It's just kind of a personal thing. I mean it's always been there since is I was two years old when it happened.

Dr. Paul Nassif: Oh, yeah, that's right. You had some trauma at the age of two.

Molly O'Brien: Yeah.

Dr. Paul Nassif: Okay. So it bothers you then?

Molly O'Brien: Yeah.

Dr. Paul Nassif: The youngest teenager I'll operate on is 15. At this time, the nose primarily has stopped growing and the cartilage also has stopped growing.

So what we're gonna do is we're gonna soften your nose.

Molly O'Brien: Okay.

Dr. Paul Nassif: We're gonna take away the bump, thin it a little bit thin the tip a little bit. Okay? And that's what we're gonna make it, again, your nose. It'll look like you, but it'll just be refined.

This is a time when we're able to actually make the changes while they're in school and so if they have a self-image issue, we can correct it at that time and make them more comfortable when they're around their peers.

Male Speaker #1: But Dr. Nassif doesn't think he can do much to help Molly breathe better.

Dr. Paul Nassif: Your septum is pushed over a little bit to the left but not severe enough for me to do surgery, especially

Male Speaker #1: Which means that Molly's rhinoplasty will be purely cosmetic.

Dr. Paul Nassif: And that your nose is not really sticking out that far.

Male Speaker #1: What he does recommend is a chin implant.

Dr. Paul Nassif: But your chin is recessed a little bit.

Molly O'Brien: Uh-huh.

Male Speaker #1: But Molly's not interested.

Dr. Paul Nassif: We talked about before, right now, you're not interested in the chin implant?

Molly O'Brien: No, thank you.

Dr. Paul Nassif: Okay. Let me go ahead and walk you out then.

Molly O'Brien: Thank you.

Male Speaker #1: No chin implant and no cure for her bad breathing either. Molly decides she wants the surgery anyway.

Molly O'Brien: Well, I'm in it for it's a little bit more perfection being a perfectionist and being a dancer.

Female Speaker #3: Up, up up!

Female Speaker #2: Now try to take a few pictures so we can put them in the album.

Molly O'Brien: Oh, my God.

Male Speaker #1: In the offices of Beverly Hills plastic surgeon, Paul Nassif.

Molly O'Brien: Here's my old nose.

Male Speaker #1: Molly O'Brien is about to have a rhinoplasty to remove a bump from the bridge of her nose.

Molly O'Brien: That's the right. I forgot. It's kind of a weird thought, you know. In a few hours, I will look completely different. No, no. Hopefully, not completely different.

All right, Molly, say goodbye to your nose. Did it flash?

Female Speaker #4: Yes.

Female Speaker #3: I feel a little better, plus I feel really comfortable here.

Molly O'Brien: She's like gripping my arm. (Laughter)

Female Speaker #3: Yeah.

Dr. Paul Nassif: The rhinoplasty ____ by most surgeons is the hardest procedure of all. It's very three-dimensional and every little thing you do can really greatly affect what the nose is gonna look like.

Molly O'Brien: Bye, Mommy.

Female Speaker #3: Bye, honey.

Male Speaker #1: Nose jobs, which cost about $5,000.00, are the most popular procedure among teens.

Molly O'Brien: Come in. Rock and roll.

Male Speaker #1: Three hours after going into surgery, Molly O'Brien is waking up with a new nose.

Female Speaker #5: You did really well and you're gonna be so happy. You look really good.

Male Speaker #1: And the verdict is unanimous.

Dr. Paul Nassif: You like my hat hair?

Molly O'Brien: Uh-huh.

Dr. Paul Nassif: Surgery went perfect.

Molly O'Brien: Really?

Dr. Paul Nassif: Perfect.

Molly O'Brien: Cool.

Dr. Paul Nassif: You're gonna be a little black and blue but not that much. After you finish talking to your mom, I want that ice on your eyes, though, okay?

Male Speaker #1: The last detail is to record the moment on film.

Female Speaker #6: Go ahead and do the time if you want.

Molly O'Brien: One, two, three. ____ this picture.

Female Speaker #3: At least she's not vain, is she to take a picture of herself like that?

Female Speaker #4: So, you just got your nose done, is that ____?

Molly O'Brien: Um-hm.

Female Speaker #4: How was it?

Molly O'Brien: Like my biggest fear was, you know, looking like a Barbie and coming out with like this plastic, ugly nose ____.

Male Speaker #1: Molly's getting tips on how to make up her new look before a follow-up appointment with Dr. Nassif.

Molly O'Brien: I love my nose. It's so cute. It's all small and petite and then the bump is gone and it's narrower, so. I mean I went up to my friends and I was like, How does it look? You know the ones that I told. They're like, Well, what exactly did you have done? And I was like, Oh, good. You can't tell.

Female Speaker #4: Spalding Drive Cosmetic Surgery and Dermatology.

Dr. Paul Nassif: Let me just look on the side now. Drop your chin just a little bit right there.

Male Speaker #2: She's come to plastic surgeon, Paul Nassif to find out what she could do to change her nose.

Dr. Paul Nassif: Perfect, very natural looking.

Lisa: When I look at myself in the mirror, I think I look very Latin.

Dr. Paul Nassif: Okay.

Lisa: And now, even a step further, I've actually married a Jewish man, going to synagogue, being exposed to a lot of the women there with these very thin little noses. I actually would like to achieve that type of nose. That's what I would like. Maybe I can kind of give you a little better understanding. I do like the real thin look of it.

Dr. Paul Nassif: Your primary concern is that your nostrils are too wide?

Lisa: Yeah, that is.

Dr. Paul Nassif: And what you're describing to me, it almost sounds like you want to have more of a Caucasian-looking nose, and we call that a westernization rhinoplasty.

Lisa: I think for me, socially, I would like to have that type of nose. Every time I see someone with a small little nose, I think, Gosh, you know, I would love to have that type of nose. I think it would be really nice.

Male Speaker #2: As well as changing her nose, Lisa's also going to try and make herself look more European by having her eyebrows lifted and her eyes widened.

Female Speaker #7: Lift up your head.

Lisa: I just cannot wait to see what I'm gonna look like.

Female Speaker #7: You'll wake up to a new and better you.

Male Speaker #2: Lisa's Hispanic and feels that white Americans make racial judgments about her all the time. That's why she had plastic surgery to fit in.

Lisa: No one has ever said to me, You know what? You look you know, you're the only Mexican girl hanging around all these white people. It's just it makes me more comfortable.

Male Speaker #2: It's six weeks since the operation on her nose.

Lisa: We just recently went out with a bunch of friends and it was a great opportunity for all of us to get dressed up and go out. And I have to tell you, I felt so good. You know, some people may have said it's very subtle, but when I look at myself, I definitely see a big difference. It's exactly what I wanted.