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	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

In a recent issue of the ARCHIVES, Ringel¹ raised the issue of "the morality of cosmetic surgery for aging."

She disparages cosmetic surgery because it does not "make people well" but simply "makes them happy."¹ What is wrong with that?

Ringel says, "the advice of physicians is implicitly coercive."¹ She says that when patients "are told they need an appendectomy, they are [receiving] an expert opinion that surgery is required. . . . "¹ She then makes an analogy by stating that "when physicians tell patients that they need a blepharoplasty, they are [saying] that society is justified in judging them on the basis of their appearance."¹ Does Ringel not credit her patients with enough sophistication to understand the difference between the two? Furthermore, what does she mean when she says physicians tell patients that they "need a blepharoplasty"?

Case 1. A 55-year-old woman presents to a physician for . . . [Full Text of this Article]