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Jolie and Aniston's plastic surgery pull, should actors pump filler in faces?

By April MacIntyre Apr 4, 2010, 18:15 GMT

Actress Angelina Jolie Fame Pictures, Inc - Santa Monica, CA

If you have observed changing faces of actors on TV and film, there is no denying that many have injected their faces with fillers like Restalyne and Juvederm, and the ubiquitous Botox to freeze facial muscles.  Collagen and Gore-tex implants inflate lips, but many casting directors appreciate the brave actors who fight the urge to meddle with their looks.

PopEater had an interesting item this morning that revealed the conundrum for those in front of the camera, to bow to pressure to stay looking unlined, or let their faces age naturally along with their bodies.   If anyone has ever seen the famous Angelyne, a Los Angeles landmark driving her pink corvette up and down Malibu Canyon/Las Virgenes Road, you understand my point.

03/07/2010 - Buzz Aldrin and wife Lois - 20th Annual Night of 100 Stars Awards Gala - Arrivals - Beverly Hills Hotel - Beverly Hills, CA, USA © Glenn Harris / PR Photos

The effect of surgeries and tweaking renders a seemingly youthful face with a body that betrays the years becomes a freakish effect we are now seeing to some extent on the beloved Buzz Aldrin and his wife on "Dancing with the Stars."  Are you really fooling anyone when you face is pulled tight but the rest of you says "I'm over 65?"

Better to be Dame Helen Mirren, married to a handsome man, Taylor Hackford, who also looks his approximate age. The two are in fine physical shape and looking happy and healthy like normal people should.  Mirren is subtle, smart and would never be caught with the dreaded joker face.

Jennifer Aniston, 41, started this subject up again in her recent Bazaar interview saying she is game for something to erase her wrinkles. "I mean these lines are getting deeper every day," she told the magazine.

PopEater took that ball and ran with it, enlisting the opinions of doctors and casting agents who talk about this double-edged sword. One doctor tells PopEater that if you have waited until your forties to do anything, forget it, too late.

Dr. Robert Grant, Plastic Surgeon-in-Chief at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center and Weill Cornell Medical Center, who PopEater interviews, shared his observations:

"Women in Hollywood are getting procedures earlier and younger than the average cosmetic patient," he says, noting that early use of Botox is believed by some to help prevent wrinkles from forming. "You need to begin a global approach to aging in your twenties, or even as a teenager, using sunblock, seeing an aesthetician, applying topical remedies to rejuvenate skin to keep it as healthy as it can be."

No one dismisses the notion that protecting the epidermis and dermis from UV damage begins early, childhood even, but Botox in the 20s?

Photos and past films betray actors for their alleged facial work, you have only to look at some older photos of Bruce Jenner, Christa Miller, Angelina Jolie, Cher, Kat Von D and of course Heidi Montag to name but a few to make a decision if this was a wise move or not.

Women like Raquel Welch and Sophia Loren, who each seemingly have tweaked and done things to themselves, have both been restrained in their facial renovation approach.  Neither looks freakish, and both women are well into their 70s.

Loren told the mother of a Los Angeles friend one of her best secrets for facial preservation years ago, when the two women had met on the set of Rome's premiere film studio Cinecittą, where my friend's father worked with Fellini in the 1960's. 

Loren said she never slept on her face, that she always slept on her back or her side, but never the face. Later she published a book (1984) called Women and Beauty where Loren went further.

Loren dishes how it was suggested to her by filmmakers to have a nose job, and to diet severely, but she resisted.  She credited her discipline and confidence in her own uniqueness to not carve her face up.  Loren wrote: "Discipline is the great equalizer. If a young woman is beautiful but has no discipline, she will lose her looks as she grows older. If a plain woman is disciplined she will undoubtedly become more beautiful with time."

Talk back and share your opinion - does plastic surgery help or hurt an actor's career? Is it necessary?