Tiny feet and broken bones

Beauty to the human eye and mind is a fickle and sometimes even dangerous creature. In ancient China, the 4-inch foot was considered a sign of perfect beauty. The practice of foot-binding, involved breaking the bones of the forefoot and folding them forward, then tying the misshapen appendage to prohibit growth. Foot-binding caused severe pain, imbalance, and falls, and eventually osteoporosis because afflicted women were unable to bear weight and ambulate correctly. Other consequences included hip and knee osteoarthritis, chronic pain, and even joint replacement surgery. Chinese foot binding was also a form of subjugation; as a class, women were even less able to take advantage of already limited educational and economic opportunities.

High foreheads and lead paint

For ancient Egyptians, Romans, and Persians, sparkling eyes were considered beautiful and they applied the heavy metal antimony to make their conjunctiva sparkle. A woman with a high forehead was considered beautiful during the Elizabethan era, and upper-class Elizabethan women plucked or shaved their frontal hairs to achieve this look. These women also covered their skin with ceruse (lead-based) makeup, which caused peripheral neuropathy, gout, anemia, chronic renal failure, and disfiguring scarring, requiring the application of more ceruse makeup. Chronic users, such as Queen Elizabeth I, acquired a misshapen appearance. Upset over her grisly visage, the Queen banished all mirrors from her castle. Her servants sometimes painted a red dot on her nose, an inside joke mocking her clown-like appearance.

Blue blood and doe eyes

In the court of Louis XVI, noblewomen drew blue veins onto their necks and shoulders to emphasize their exalted status. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the wealthy used belladonna eyedrops to dilate their pupils. Users acquired a doe-like appearance, but they also risked retinal damage, glaucoma, and blindness. During the 18th century, vermilion rouge, concocted of sulphur and mercury, achieved popularity. Users lost teeth, suffered gingivitis, and (unknowingly) risked kidney and nervous system damage from mercury -- not to mention their having to deal with the unpleasant smell of sulphur.

Skinny waists and virtue

Corseting, popular from the 14th to 19th centuries, originally involved compressing the bosom and constricting the waist with tightly wound whalebone on a steel frame. Shallow breathing, combined with inadequate venous return, produced fainting and swooning. Hiatal hernias caused by overly tight corsets are termed 'Sommerring's syndrome' -- after the 18th century physician who first warned of the dangers of tight lacing. Christina Larson points out, “the corset facilitated a pernicious association between physical beauty and virtue, as upright posture and a slender waist came to be regarded as evidence of discipline, modesty, rigor, and refinement. Ladies who abandoned their stays were scorned as both lazy and immoral.”

Heroin chic to parasites

Ideal body weight and shape have fluctuated throughout history, from the rotund Venus of Willendorf of antiquity, to the statuesque, leggy flappers of the 1920s, to the ultra-thin Twiggy inspired look of the 1960s and the heroin chic cachexia of the 1990s. In some cultures (eg, Hawaiian royalty), women voluntarily consumed or were force-fed excessive quantities of food to maintain their corpulence, a sign of fertility and power. At other times, women, including those with and without anorexia and bulimia, have dieted, induced vomiting, abused laxatives, and exercised excessively to lose weight. Famed opera singer Maria Callas deliberately infected herself with tapeworms to produce a malabsorption syndrome to maintain her lithe figure.

Lift and suction

Today, popular icons of beauty are found in music videos and on commercial television. Large bust size and round, but not excessively large posteriors are emphasized, for example. To help the average woman achieve this look, a variety of products have become available, such as Wonderbra, which elevates and compresses the breasts, and the Brava bra, a $2500 suction device designed to be worn overnight for 10 weeks. Brava bra makers promise a 1-cup size increase; side effects include skin rash and discomfort. In the United Kingdom, women can buy Wonderbum hose, made of DuPont lycra to mimic a 'peachy, pert bottom.'

Men on the way

Thoroughly routing the idea of a woman-only beauty myth is the very real fact that men are a rapidly growing consumer niche in cosmetic surgery. They are getting procedures such as botulinum toxin injections and chemical peels, although they are not yet as willing to admit to their cosmetic habits as women are. One New York plastic surgeon told the Wall Street Journal that 17 percent of his patients undergoing eyelid surgery and about 11 percent choosing facelifts are male, double the percentage of ten years ago.

Less belly and more hair

According to the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery, the most popular procedures for men are botulinum toxin injections, hair transplantation, chemical peels, microdermabrasion, and liposuction. But more than 10,000 men have also had cosmetic surgery including calf and pectoral implants to upsize their musculature.