78: When Beauty Kills: Secrets of the Plastic Surgery | Dark History with Bailey Sarian
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This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance.

It's easy and you can save money by doing it from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average. And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. Discounts for having multiple vehicles on your policy, being a homeowner and more.

So just like your favorite podcast, Progressive will be with you 24-7, 365 days a year, so you're protected no matter what. Multitask right now. Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive.

Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. National average 12-month savings of $744 by new customer surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary. Discounts not available in all states and situations. This is an ad by BetterHelp. What are your self-care non-negotiables? The things you know make you feel better even when it's impossible to make time for them.

Like that workout you try to squeeze in between kids' activities, work, and everything else you have going on, and before you know it, it gets pushed to tomorrow. Sound familiar? But it's the moments when you feel like you have no time for yourself when those non-negotiables are more important than ever. Those are the things that keep you strong, healthy, motivated, and prepared to take on everything life demands of you. So why not make therapy one of them?

BetterHelp Online Therapy makes it easy to get started with affordable phone, video, or live chat sessions you can do from anywhere, and the option to message your therapist between sessions if anything comes up. Never skip therapy day with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash darkhistory today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash darkhistory. ♪

Hi, friends. How are you today? Are you having a wonderful day? I hope so. My name is Bailey Sarian, and I'd like to welcome you to my study and to my podcast, Dark History. Now, if you're new here, this is a chance to tell the story like it is and, I don't know, just share the history of stuff we would never think about. I do all the thinking at like 2 a.m., so don't worry. I got you covered. I'm going to tell you a story that I've never thought about.

All I need you to do is sit back, relax, and just let me ramble on about all the stuff I learned because it's filled with so much hot, juicy history goss. History is juicy. It really is. They just overcomplicate it, right? They make it so complex so we don't understand it. But then when you break it down, you're like, holy shit.

I've had a lot of coffee today. Anyway, so let me tell you about today's episode. Now, I heard about this story a long time ago about this guy who married this woman, right? As one does. The two of them decided to have kids, so that's exactly what they went on to do. And after one of the babies was born, the man looks at this child and then looks at his wife and then looks at himself and

you know, in the mirror or whatever. And he's like, "What the hell? This baby's ugly. This baby is ugly." And I know, I sure as hell know he did not get it from me. So this guy, he immediately accuses his wife of cheating on him because there's no way in hell that he could have fathered, he could have made such an ugly child. This is facts, I'm telling you, okay? It turns out his hunch was right. Like, no, she wasn't cheating. She was actually hiding something.

She had a big old secret. You see, he ends up suing her. He takes her to court. And that's where he finds out that before the two had ever met, his wife had plastic surgery. So not only was the child ugly, it was naturally ugly. The horror! Having a naturally ugly child. Oh!

It was too much for these people to handle. Now, here's the fun part. There's a hot debate whether this story is true or not. If you search the web, you'll come across this story, but you can't ever figure out if it's...

Factual, I don't know. But all this plastic surgery talk just led me down a rabbit hole. You know, I mean, I'm sure there's something there if you just go looking, so I did. And I was shocked to find out that plastic surgery has actually been around for a long time. I personally, I guess, thought plastic surgery was newer, you know, new-ish. But boy, was I wrong. Like, I'm sure Jesus was getting plastic surgery. Tell you what I learned. Great. Joan, are you okay?

Joan got breast implants, as you can probably tell. She did need them. No shade. But you were a little flat. Look, I have to keep you in your place. You're becoming too gorgeous for this show. It's going straight to your head. God damn it, Joan. Is that where you're spending all your money? On tits? How are you gonna fly? With tits? Okay, look.

People, us people, have been trying to upgrade ourselves since the dawn of time, really. Oh yeah, Indian doctors in the sixth century were doing impressive nose surgeries before anyone else, but for, some would say, very different reasons. You see, back in India during the 500s, yeah, I'm talking about the 500s, if you broke the law, let's say maybe you did a little treason, maybe you committed adultery,

I don't know, slept around. Well, a really popular punishment was getting, drum roll please, your nose chopped off.

Yeah, that was a punishment. You will get your nose chopped off. It was pretty effective, I guess. I'm not sure, but I imagine, right? So there are a lot of people wandering around this time with no noses. I never saw Harry Potter, but I'm being told it's giving like Lord Voldemort. What's his name? Him. It's giving him. I guess he doesn't have a nose. I don't know. So

criminals will get their noses chopped off, okay? And not only does this signal to the world that like you're a criminal, but the recovery period was pretty brutal and it made life really hard for people all around. I don't know if you've heard the saying that, quote, necessity is the mother of invention, end quote.

But it really applies here because without this punishment, nose jobs might never have been invented. So this doctor named Sue Shruta is like, hey, don't worry, you guys. Stop freaking out. I got you. And he goes off and invents a procedure that he calls the, quote,

Indian flap, end quote. Dr. Sue Schruta would do something today that we call skin grafting. So he would take a flap of skin from like the patient's cheek, drape it over the nose stump, and then keep it elevated and in shape of a nose

until it healed. And, you know, while it's healing, they would be using tubes of castor oil to prop up the new skin. It was just this whole thing. But essentially, this guy invented skin grafting 500 years before Jesus turned water into wine. Now, ain't that something? I was like, wow, I'm done. I learned enough here. Wow. You know, that's wild to think. I couldn't even imagine the year 500 BC. Could you? No. Mm-mm. Mm-mm.

Was there dinosaurs during this time? Don't answer that. Wow, what an icon this doctor was, huh? Seriously. Now, on top of all of this, Dr. Sue Schroeter would give his patients a little dose of wine and something called henbane to get them to fall asleep, them being the patient. So you're like, okay, great, wine and henbane? What the hell is that? Well, henbane is cannabis indica.

the devil's lettuce. Just kidding. But yeah, so they would get high and they would get to drink some wine and then they would wake up with hopefully a new nose, you know? Now, all of Su Shrutas' methods were written down in Sanskrit, which is an ancient Indian language that not a lot of people outside of India were speaking. So all of his medical achievements were totally unknown outside of India. But word of mouth spread.

And by the 16th century, Italian doctors started performing similar reconstructive techniques. But things didn't really hit until the 1700s when India and England were at war. That's when some British surgeons heard a story that left them shooketheth to the core. There are these four men that were captured, okay?

And all four of these men had their noses cut off by the opposing army. Well, they came back a year later, these same four men, with noses. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, it had people all sorts of confused because everyone's like, I know a nose does not grow like a lizard tail. So they decide to investigate. And that's when soldiers came across an Indian surgeon who was still following Sushruta's techniques. Now he's laying layers of gauze with a quote-unquote cement mixture on top of that new nose, which they shaped with wax.

and then they slowly wait for it all to harden. The patient has to lay on their back for about five to six days after the operation to make sure, again, gravity helped keep everything in place. But this procedure, according to the doctors, was, quote, always successful and looked nearly as well as the natural nose, end quote.

Honestly, I saw a picture. They kind of look like Squidward afterwards. You see it. If you don't, Squidward. But hey, it had to start somewhere, you know? Like, hey, you know? It worked. And it was better than nothing, I'm sure. And it made them feel better, I think. And look, the procedure itself was just really advanced for the time. And the British were blown away, okay? Now, especially back in England.

Whole lot of people are noseless at this time, but not for the same reason. They're noseless for a different reason. Yeah, people got missing noses during this time. Just everyone's nose was missing for some weird reason. We are so lucky we have our noses today. I don't know what it is, but they are the first to go, okay? I don't know. What is that? Do you guys know what really wears down your nose cartilage? If you answered cocaine,

Yes, but another enemy to your nose is also syphilis. Oh yeah, syphilis. That STD, what does that have to do with your nose? I don't know, but it causes a problem. Europe was getting just pounded with a real bad epidemic of syphilis. And a little known side effect of syphilis is that it basically destroys the soft tissue in your nose. Yes, random.

So a lot of people were walking around with gaping holes in the middle of their faces where their noses used to be. And just like back in India, there was a social stigma tied to it. If you had a hole for a nose, honestly, the people were like, oh, you're, she's a dirty little hussy, isn't she? But with a British accent. So when those British doctors came back to Europe with that nose job situation, I mean, it was perfect timing.

By the late 1700s, there was a surge in nasal reconstructive surgeries. Whether you had lost your nose to syphilis, frostbite, or by breaking rules in India, there was now a way to get your nose back. I mean, that's huge. Well, sometimes we really come together, don't we? I don't know who's we, but nevermind. Now for reconstructive surgery, the goal here was to get back to the way you looked before the syphilis

had pretty much stolen your nose. Not necessarily for like an upgraded, quote unquote, upgraded you. So it kind of makes sense that the next big wave at advancements in plastic surgery happens after World War I.

That was... This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance.

It's easy and you can save money by doing it from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average. And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. Discounts for having multiple vehicles on your policy, being a homeowner and more.

So just like your favorite podcast, Progressive will be with you 24-7, 365 days a year, so you're protected no matter what. Multitask right now. Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive.

This is an ad by BetterHelp. What?

What are your self-care non-negotiables? The things you know make you feel better, even when it's impossible to make time for them. Like that workout you try to squeeze in between kids' activities, work, and everything else you have going on, and before you know it, it gets pushed to tomorrow.

Sound familiar? But it's the moments when you feel like you have no time for yourself when those non-negotiables are more important than ever. Those are the things that keep you strong, healthy, motivated, and prepared to take on everything life demands of you. So why not make therapy one of them?

BetterHelp Online Therapy makes it easy to get started with affordable phone, video, or live chat sessions you can do from anywhere. And the option to message your therapist between sessions if anything comes up. Never skip therapy day with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com slash Dark History today to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash Dark History. Me?

Now, get this, after World War I, this is like a time when weapons were getting more advanced. Soldiers' faces were getting torn apart from exploding shells that were filled with shrapnel, basically shards of razor sharp metal that could rip your face clean off.

all the way off. So like there's this wave of soldiers coming home from war with just horrible wounds, holes in their faces, missing eyes, and a lot even missing their noses. Usually if you came back, you know, looking,

It was hard to get a job because, you know, at the time, a lot of people didn't want to hire someone that was maybe uncomfortable to look at. And that was just the reality at the time. Like, obviously not great.

right? Yeah. So a lot of these men coming home, serving the country, were having trouble finding work, making money, and just like really getting back into normal life. Even men who had reconstructive work done overseas were terrified of coming home and perhaps being rejected by their loved ones because they looked

Now this man, Harold Gillies, a surgeon from New Zealand, he was seeing how much like these soldiers were struggling and decided to do something about it. In 1917, he builds a hospital in England exclusively for facial reconstruction. And this is where he starts experimenting with how to best give soldiers their old faces back.

Gillies has a major breakthrough by creating a new technique when it comes to skin grafting and becomes famous, pretty much, as the father of plastic surgery. Now he was doing something no one else was doing. And from this point on, I mean, it was like the dawn of plastic surgery as we know it.

Pretty soon, doctors and even non-doctors are realizing there's a pretty penny to be made in the market of facial and body reconstruction. They were putting all kinds of things in people's bodies to try and fill war holes and patch those shrapnel wounds. If you were getting reconstructive surgery in the early 1900s, your wounds could be packed with anything from wool, yes, wool, wool, ox cartilage, sponges,

Polyester, ivory, the one that I got hung up on was glass. Yeah, they would use glass as like a filler. Oh, could you imagine? Like don't run into any hard corners, it's over for you. They even used ground up rubber from time to time. A lot of trial and error, honestly. But eventually their doctors were like, "Hey, this looks pretty good."

And because Dr. Gillies had been doing such great work with soldiers, he was making cosmetic surgery not only well-known, but socially acceptable. Now this next thing is not technically considered plastic surgery. It's kind of like a workaround to plastic surgery. And it's something that many thought was invented in the modern day, but it's much older than you think. And I'm talking about fillers. Yeah.

Fillers are something you inject into your skin to smooth out or add volume to an area. And when fillers enter the chat, the lines between plastic and cosmetic procedures, yeah, they get a little blurry. Traditional plastic surgery was all about getting the patient back to how they looked and functioned before, like those soldiers and syphilis patients. And it was related to your health.

But now for some people, it was seen as an option to do something cosmetic, aka this is now your opportunity to take your looks to the next level.

Back in the day, doctors were using all sorts of wild materials for fillers. There's a story of a man in the late 1800s who got sick with tuberculosis. That's a hard one for me to say. And unfortunately, he ended up getting some kind of rare complication where the tuberculosis messed with his testicles. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, the body's weird. And he ended up having to be castrated, aka they chopped off one of his balls to save him. Which totally sucks though, right? What? Yeah. Yeah. Losing a part of your body. Bummer. When he went to the doctor to fix it, they told him that they had just the thing to help. A petroleum-based product called Vaseline.

Vaseline. Now the doctor's theory here was that the Vaseline would be injected as a liquid. And then once it adjusted to the body's internal temperature, it would turn into the perfect ball-like consistency. Now my mind was like, oh my God, that sounds nice. Like a stress ball.

Just a ball of Vaseline, that sounds nice. Like I could see where they thought, you know, they were onto something. I would squeeze that ball. And get this, it actually, it worked for a while, but the Vaseline filler didn't seem to stay in place. Apparently Vaseline back then would melt at a temperature of 65 degrees. Our body's internal temperature is like 98 degrees, like the boy band.

So it wasn't gonna work out. I mean, they couldn't figure this out before they injected it into a human testicle. Well, I guess that was them finding out. I gotta learn somewhere. Well, anyways, the Vaseline, it wasn't gonna work. So doctors had to figure something else out. And that's when the 1920s rolled around and doctors pivot to another petroleum-based substance that seemed...

Much better than Vaseline. They switched over to something called paraffin. Now if that sounds familiar to you, it's probably because you've been to the nail salon and they're like, do you want your hands all smooth and stuff? And they do that paraffin wax treatment and you could dip your feet in, your hands in, and then it hardens and then you take it off and oh, your skin's so smooth.

Yeah, that stuff. Look, I mean, plastic surgeons thought they struck a gold mine, okay? The melting temperature was supposed to be higher than Vaseline and paraffin injections could help even more medical issues like painful hernias. But the reason paraffin was popular wasn't because of hernias, let's be real. It was because it was also for a while an effective cosmetic filler. Women were now seeing doctors to get fillers in their cheeks, breasts,

and noses. And men were even coming in to get filler in their penises to make them larger. Yeah, they were getting dick filler. Hot. Doctors and patients reported amazing results basically right away. And paraffin injection was the most popular technique for the first 20 years of the 20th century. And there was just one catch, of course. The paraffin, it was basically poison for your body.

Yeah, we bathed in it. Whoops. Again. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance.

It's easy and you can save money by doing it from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average. And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. Discounts for having multiple vehicles on your policy, being a homeowner and more.

So just like your favorite podcast, Progressive will be with you 24-7, 365 days a year, so you're protected no matter what. Multitask right now. Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive.

This is an ad by BetterHelp. What?

What are your self-care non-negotiables? The things you know make you feel better, even when it's impossible to make time for them. Like that workout you try to squeeze in between kids' activities, work, and everything else you have going on, and before you know it, it gets pushed to tomorrow.

Sound familiar? But it's the moments when you feel like you have no time for yourself when those non-negotiables are more important than ever. Those are the things that keep you strong, healthy, motivated, and prepared to take on everything life demands of you. So why not make therapy one of them?

BetterHelp Online Therapy makes it easy to get started with affordable phone, video, or live chat sessions you can do from anywhere. And the option to message your therapist between sessions if anything comes up. Never skip therapy day with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com slash Dark History today to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash Dark History. Life! Woo!

There was this woman named Gladys Deacon, a French American Duchess whose life was ruined because of paraffin fillers. Now Gladys was a babe, allegedly. Men loved her. She was known for her beauty, her wealth, her status. And when she was in her twenties, she wanted to have a little procedure done to make her even more beautiful. Just, but naturally, right?

enhanced a little, but doesn't nobody needs to know, you know? She just wanted a little filler put into her nose because, you know, it bothered her a little bit and that was it. No one was gonna know. Bye. Unfortunately though,

It didn't come out like she had hoped for. And she became one of the most famous examples of what paraffin injection complications looked like. I guess the filler from her nose somehow made its way down to her chin, and she developed a condition called paraffinomas, which made her face, I guess, swell up. Now this can happen when the body detects something foreign is in the body and tries to get rid of it.

So it causes your body to inflame and lumps would form all around the paraffin. Now Gladys developed more of these swollen patches and lumps until the paraffinomus basically took over her entire face. She spent the rest of her life hiding from her reflection. She didn't even allow any mirrors in her home. And she literally, it's not funny,

It's uncomfortable. And she literally died sad and alone. Well, shit, you know? Fuck. Hey, what's that sin? Vanity. Ooh, this is about, yeah, that. Great. I forget how the seven deadly sins work, but I think this is one of them. Sorry, girl. That sucks.

I'm looking at you, girl. Mm-hmm. There have been even worse paraffin filler complications reported, like it causing blood clots in the brain or even the lungs. And even if people didn't get a reaction right away, they might get a deadly infection later on. Back then, there was really no way to get paraffin filler out of your body, so you just had to sit and deal with it. But still, thanks to all of the horrors, horrors,

Of World War II, plastic surgery perseveres. Plastic surgeons don't only cater to the duchesses of the world, they also helped change people's lives. Like, for example, a man named Dr. Maxwell Mates. When Dr. Mates was just an intern at a hospital,

He had an experience that would shape him for the rest of his professional life. You see what happened was he was helping out with like the delivery of a newborn baby. When the parents first laid eyes on their newborn, they were shooketh. The baby was born with a cleft lip.

A cleft lip is a gap or opening in the front lip area. Now, the parents were devastated to see this. Now, back then, people genuinely thought that babies who are born looking different than everyone else, it was actual evidence that God was pissed at you for sinning. Even if it was like a sin from 20 years ago, God was gonna mess up your baby.

Dr. Mates realized his calling in life was to help these innocent little babies and other people who may have suffered because society treated them differently for their appearance. And in the 1920s, plastic surgery was still a procedure, mostly for people who medically needed it, and it was considered a noble profession to really help people.

But as the medicine and surgery techniques got better over the years, it was normal to the upper class people all of a sudden. It was all about the rich women getting nose jobs, not because they needed them, but because they wanted them.

And this is when the switch happens. Dr. Mates describes the switch by saying, "I could whisk new noses out of air. Just about everything lay within the compass of my magical power." He was very high of himself. Dr. Mates' appointment bookings were filling up with nose jobs and fillers and whatever else, making him forget why he'd gotten to the practice in the first place.

It's always because money ruins everything. Once people start making tons of money, it's like, he's like, fuck what I was gonna do. I'm gonna do this now. I don't blame him, but like,

Still sucks, you know? At this point, like people were going from, I wanna look quote unquote normal to I wanna look perfect. More everyday people were starting to get interested in the procedures, but were feeling a little hesitant. So plastic surgery kind of got a little rebrand. People started referring to plastic surgery as beauty enhancements.

And this terminology made it seem less extreme and more like putting cucumbers over your eyes and just relaxing in the sun. Another doctor, his name was Dr. John Howard Crum, took everything one step further and started telling women that facelifts were the new it thing to do. Everyone needed a facelift.

And honestly, they shouldn't be afraid of it because the procedure was quote, "no big deal." Dr. Crum wanted to prove this to the people. So on May 26th, 1921, Dr. Crum performs a facelift procedure to the public. Oh yeah, I would watch for sure. This was the first public facial surgery ever. There was a full on audience, like it was a major sporting event.

There was over 1500 people who showed up to like see what the fuss was all about. And at first this doctor, Dr. Crumb, planned to perform the procedure behind a white screen, you know, so like people could see the shadows of what was happening, but not have to deal with all the gore of it, you know? But shortly after he was about to start, the crowd was basically shouting at him to pull down the screen. They want to see it all. ♪ Pull down the screen, pull down the screen ♪

And he's like, "Okay, bitches." He pulls it down, revealing he was performing surgery on a veteran film actress, Martha Patel, which is actually quite the reveal. Like at first you just think he's like working with some normal quote unquote normal person giving her a facelift, but he was working on a film actress. So people were like, "Oh my God, like, fuck. I love the movie you were in, girl." You know, it's just,

So everyone is just like, what? Anyways, at this point, Martha had only been getting like roles as quote unquote, like the mother in films. And she really wanted to go back to her leading lady days. So she's like, get rid of those wrinkles, you know, lift, tighten. I want that youth back. But this wasn't just your standard operation. Nay, nay. Dr. Crumb's surgery would have clapped.

ambiance, and maybe even a little bit of fun. As Dr. Crumb applied the anesthetic to Martha's face, a whole ass orchestra started playing jazz in the background. Yeah, seriously. And during the whole thing, Martha was awake. It's too much. Even though Martha's face was numb, because it was, she was chatting it up with her daughter. She was talking to the doctor.

Honestly, iconic, okay? You know, people are watching this and some women were just so into it. They're like, oh my God, I need this. I love this. Let me see what's going to happen next. And then there were other women who just straight up fainted during the surgery. But either way, it was a success to Dr. Crum. And after he was done with the surgery, Martha showed the crowd her freshly tightened and lifted face. And it must've looked pretty good because Dr. Crum

Crumb went on to have a very successful career. At some point, women just weren't happy with getting filler or facelifts. I mean, I want more, daddy. How'd I do? Give me more, daddy. I suck at accents. Anyways, but women are wanting more, okay? More, more, more, more. We're never happy. This goes for us as people. We're never happy. We just want more, more, more, more, more. So this...

This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance.

It's easy and you can save money by doing it from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average. And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. Discounts for having multiple vehicles on your policy, being a homeowner, and more. So just like your favorite podcast, Progressive will be with you 24, 7, 365 days a year so you're protected no matter what.

This is an ad by BetterHelp. What?

What are your self-care non-negotiables? The things you know make you feel better, even when it's impossible to make time for them. Like that workout you try to squeeze in between kids' activities, work, and everything else you have going on, and before you know it, it gets pushed to tomorrow.

Sound familiar? But it's the moments when you feel like you have no time for yourself when those non-negotiables are more important than ever. Those are the things that keep you strong, healthy, motivated, and prepared to take on everything life demands of you. So why not make therapy one of them?

BetterHelp Online Therapy makes it easy to get started with affordable phone, video, or live chat sessions you can do from anywhere, and the option to message your therapist between sessions if anything comes up. Never skip therapy day with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash darkhistory today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash darkhistory. Boobies enter the chat. The year is 1895.

Dr. Vincent Czerny is a surgeon making waves over in Germany. He was actually considered by those who knew him as a miracle worker. A few years. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking.

Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance. It's easy and you can save money by doing it from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average. And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts.

discounts for having multiple vehicles on your policy, being a homeowner, and more. So just like your favorite podcast, Progressive will be with you 24, 7, 365 days a year, so you're protected no matter what. Multitask right now. Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive.

Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. National average 12-month savings of $744 by new customer surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary. Discounts not available in all states and situations. This is an ad by BetterHelp. What are your self-care non-negotiables? The things you know make you feel better even when it's impossible to make time for them.

Like that workout you try to squeeze in between kids' activities, work, and everything else you have going on, and before you know it, it gets pushed to tomorrow. Sound familiar? But it's the moments when you feel like you have no time for yourself when those non-negotiables are more important than ever. Those are the things that keep you strong, healthy, motivated, and prepared to take on everything life demands of you. So why not make therapy one of them?

BetterHelp Online Therapy makes it easy to get started with affordable phone, video, or live chat sessions you can do from anywhere, and the option to message your therapist between sessions if anything comes up. Never skip therapy day with BetterHelp.

Visit BetterHelp.com slash Dark History today to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash Dark History. Before, he made history by performing the world's first complete hysterectomy and was able to remove the uterus of women struggling with vaginal health issues.

You know, women throughout history, still now, were suffering from all sorts of vaginal issues like heavy bleeding and different types of cancer. So this guy, he starts to get a reputation as like the man to go to if you had any sort of lady problem. Well, okay, look, so remember him. And then right across town,

There was this woman, couldn't find her name, okay? Sorry. She was 41 years old and she was a singer professionally. Her job, you know, get up and to sing and to perform on stage every night. Well, there was this one day where she felt some pain in her left titty. So she lifted up her shirt and then she saw lots of swelling. She's like devastating for any woman. Obviously she was worried. So she goes and she sees Dr. Cherney.

And Cherni gets her up on the exam table, asks her to lift her shirt, and he starts to examine. So he does this thing, bleep, blop, bloop, and it doesn't take long for him to discover a tumor in her left breast. So she's talking with the doctor, Dr. Cherni, about her options, and she agrees to have her entire breast removed. That was really the best option for her.

her. So for this performer, she was nervous as hell because there was a real possibility that the procedure could leave her disfigured. And honestly, losing a breast in general, it's got to be heartbreaking. I mean, that's your ride or die, your side chick. It's a loss. I mean, could this ruin her reputation as a performer? She's just all sorts of worried. So she's feeling very desperate.

it. And the doctor, Dr. Cherney, can see this and he's dead set on helping her. So after examining her body again, the doctor ends up finding a fatty tumor about the size of an apple on the right side of her lower back. I know, poor girl. She's got like tumors all over the place. But Dr. Cherney sees these tumors as an opportunity.

This is exactly when he has his little light bulb moment that would change the breast forever. Dr. Cherney puts her on the operating table, removes the tumor from her breast, and then he removes the apple-sized tumor on her lower back. But instead of tossing it into the trash, he takes the fatty tumor and inserts it into the woman's breasts. He sews her up and ta-da!

Brand new titty. I know it sounds bad, because it's like, wait, did he just swap a tumor for another tumor? Like, that can't be good. But the lower back one wasn't cancerous. It was just a fatty lump. So the doctor concluded it wouldn't hurt her. And this idea of using actual body tissue to reconstruct a breast was groundbreaking. It was the first documented breast augmentation surgery. This was so groundbreaking that Dr. Cherney was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Not once, but three times in the early 1900s. But sadly, his important work in the field of boob jobs was overlooked. For some reason, he just kept losing to people like the guy who found the cure for syphilis.

Or like there was another guy who invented some big cure. Mmm, boo. Poor guy, he didn't even win. Anyways, up to this point, boob jobs were mainly used to help women who needed it, like in the case of the German singer. But then the 1940s roll around and there is a big cultural shift. The era of the pinup girl pops off. Pinup girls were like posters of sexy Hollywood actresses that soldiers from World War II would hang up on their walls and just like,

drool over. And all of these posters featured sexy ladies with a large

chest maybe, I don't know. In this carrying through to when Playboy magazine first hit shelves everywhere in 1953, women with curves and shapes were now like the envy of women nationwide. Curves and round boobies are being embraced and more women wanted to embrace it too. I mean padded bras were just not cutting it anymore and women wanted the real thing but not. Like how can I get the real thing but like not? And science wasn't quite ready to supply that demand. That is until

a couple of doctors in Texas, of course, Texas, with the help of a major corporation and a dog with boobs come into play. Ah, yeah, a dog with boobs. You got that right. That was my Reba impersonation. I hate me. Why can't I ever say what I feel? Okay, now we're in the year 1961.

And down in the Lone Star State, two doctors are about to prove that everything is, in fact, bigger in Texas. They really went off. Dr. Thomas Cronin, a plastic surgeon, was at like a conference in New Orleans. And while he's there learning about all the new improvements happening in the world of plastic surgery, that's when he comes across a company named Dow Corning Corporation. Do you know the Dow Corp Corporation? Yeah, those goons. It's them.

Small world, right? Anyway, Cronin learns that the chemical company, Dow, totally need to do an episode on them, had created something called silicone gel. And the company proudly claimed that not only could it be used to make an artificial body part, but it also did not react with the body. Translation, it was safe to put inside a person. Yay, you know, yay. A chemical company making a safe substance in the 60s? Sure, okay.

All right, anyways, as the story goes, Dr. Frank Gero, Cronin's business partner, stopped by a blood bank in Texas. When he walked inside, Gero was surprised because he found blood being stored in plastic IV bags. I know, now this is normal to us. Okay, listen, we're like, yeah, and? But back then, everything was stored in glass. So he's seen this and he's like, weird. So he picks one up, he gives it a little...

Honk honk, you know? He looks around, he's like, "Hey guys, does this feel like a boob to you? Or is it just me? Kind of feels like a boob." So this doctor, yeah, he's a doctor. He's like, "This feels like a boob." He's feeling inspired because he ends up getting in touch with Dr. Cronin and he proposes the idea of a breast implant that feels exactly like the blood in a bag.

Yeah, he's like, yeah, you see it? So the two brainstorm and agree that the content of the bag needed to be thicker than blood, but something that replicates the feel of a boob. And girl Cronin had just the thing. He's like, that's funny. I heard about silicone whatever just about a minute ago.

You know? So the doctors partner up with the head of Dow Corning's medical research division, and the three of them create a thin, clear bag filled with silicone gel. They call it the Cronin-Giro implant, aka the silicone breast implant.

Wow, pioneers. So they got this prototype and I'm sure they're probably fondling it and giggling, you know? And then they realize that they have a little situation on their hands. Oh, no, wait, a tituation. Ah.

Okay, they may be onto something here, but they have to test the implant and make sure it works before getting all too excited. They're probably looking at each other like, I'm not doing it. And the other guy is like, I'm not doing it either. Like, mm-mm. So they come back to the drawing board. Hmm, who could they test this silicone breast on or in, really? They

They look around the room and they spot a dog. A dog sitting in the corner. Her name? Esmeralda. And boy, does she look like she needs some titties. Hey, am I right? Yeah. Now this next part is going to sound made up, okay? I know. But I'm telling you it's 100% true. I swear. Okay, look.

These guys, these doctors decided poor innocent Esmeralda, the dog, was going to be their guinea pig. She was going to try out the very first fake silicone titty. So the doctors put Esmeralda on their operating table, knocked her out, made an incision and put a biscuit-sized silicone implant inside the dog. They sewed her up and then observed her for a few days. When I heard this, I pictured like,

Look, I pictured in my mind a cute-ass little dog with some fine-ass titties, right? Like, that's what I'm picturing in my mind. And I was like, I don't know for sure what it looks like. So I started Googling around and there's not one single photo out there. But lucky for us, we have an artist rendering of what Esmeralda may or may not have looked like. See, is that right? I was right. Those are some fine-ass titties.

So the doctors observed Esmeralda over some time, and they noticed absolutely nothing. And that's exactly what they were hoping for. Esmeralda seemed fine, and she showed, like, no adverse side effects. I mean, to be fair, dogs can't talk. I mean, for all we know, she could have been like, hey, this is extremely...

but we don't know. The doctors reported that they would have kept the implant in longer if Esmeralda didn't try to chew through her stitches. Poor Esmeralda, you know? Shoot. And then it got me wondering, I wonder what happened to her, really. I mean, if you know her whereabouts, please let me know. I mean, Esmeralda walked so we really could run. Put some respect on her name, right? You have those titties because of Esmeralda. She needs something, an award.

Anyway, so this was a huge success in the doctor's eyes. But what they really need to prove their invention was legit was a human to test this out on. And that's when Timmy Jean Lindsay walks into Garrow's office. So in 1962, Timmy Jean was 29 years old.

She had recently become divorced. And Timmy, you know, she had this whirlwind romance with her boyfriend and wanted to celebrate their love with a big old tattoo. And then I guess a few days after she got it, that's when she realized like, oh shit, I shouldn't have gotten this tattoo. So Timmy Jean marched her ass to the hospital to have it removed. And wouldn't you know it, she was seen by our good old buddy, Dr. Giro. He could tell Timmy was like,

kind of desperate and maybe a little vulnerable. So he ends up offering her a once in a lifetime opportunity to get a free pair of boobies. She's like, "Where do I sign?" You know? All she had to do was sign a few waivers, agreeing to be their first human guinea pig for the silicone implant. I guess Timmy had like negotiated with them and is like, "Hey, while I'm under, can you do my ears too? Pin them back, I think."

And they agree. And before you know it, Timmy gets a quote unquote free boob job. Actually, I mean, it's pretty scary. You know, this is the first time anyone's ever done this. No one has a silicone. It's a lot. I don't know how she's feeling, but I would imagine it's pretty scary. But good for her. Good for her. So when Timmy Jean woke up, she said it felt like an entire elephant was sitting on her chest.

And I guess this is where that famous phrase, beauty is pain, comes from because she looked great. And the two doctors couldn't have been happier with what they called their masterpiece.

And by 1964, the Dow Corning Company began marketing the implant to the whole public. Within eight years, 50,000 implants were sold and this launched an entire new industry and the money was rolling in. In the '70s, the breast implant industry took off like a freaking rocket ship.

First of all, 88% of all implants sold at this time were that Cronin gyro silicone implant. And these were selling fast because boob jobs were affordable as hell in the 70s. A breast implant would cost around $4,000, which was considered affordable as hell in the 70s. And this meant that the middle class ladies too could have, you know, a new pair of

A new pair, just a new pair, a new pair. I mean, boobs were all the rage. They were everywhere. So this leads to what experts describe as a breast implant free-for-all in the 1980s. Almost no one was concerned about the safety of the silicone bags sitting in women's bodies for years. I mean, they gotta go bad at some point, right? But doctors' calendars were filling up and filling up fast. One doctor said, quote,

Twins would come in, sisters would come in, and I'd go from one room to another performing surgeries. Another surgeon said the most breast implant surgeries he performed in one day was 17. That's a lot of boobs. In one day? I don't know if that's possible. I think he's lying. He probably cut some corners. Anyways, that same doctor said by 1986, he was having what he called, quote,

Grand Teton days a few times a month. The Grand Tetons, because I was like, what does that even mean? Are mountains in Wyoming. So I guess this was his cute way of saying, you know, he was putting mountains on women's chests. I don't know. Honestly, it just gave me a reason to sing, you know, Shakira.

♪ Lucky that my breasts are small and humble ♪ ♪ So you don't confuse them with mountains ♪ It goes something like that. I just want it.

Okay. During this boom, breast doctors across America were making between one and $3 million a year. Yeah. They were like, oh, how far we've come, huh? Meanwhile, Dow Corning Corporation, and all the doctors too, let's not just put it on them, but everyone was telling patients they had nothing to worry about when it came to their silicone implants. They're safe, and better yet, they'll last forever.

you know, some BS like that. But over the years, no surprise here, it turns out that they weren't safe and they were not probably going to last forever because in 1991, a woman won $7.3 million in a lawsuit case against Dow Corning because her implants broke open inside of her body and caused a painful,

permanent immune system disease. But that wouldn't slow down the demand. By 1992, breast augmentation procedures were bringing in $500 million for some doctors. And about 2 million women had gotten them done by this point.

Man, I would have been a breast doctor for sure. But the party comes to an end when hundreds of lawsuits are filed against Dow Corning, claiming their silicone boobie were actually causing tons of health problems. In 1998, Dow Corning agreed to pay $3.2 billion to settle lawsuits from 170,000 women,

who said they got extremely sick from their silicone breast implants. I mean, so many people who claim to have gotten sick from these implants presented a long list of illnesses they believe the implants were causing. I'm talking from things like lupus and other life-changing autoimmune and brain diseases. Dow Corning does not agree their implants cause these health issues, but you know, when a company pays out $3.2 billion,

I think that says something else, my guys. With all this bad press, silicone implants fell out of popularity in the late 1990s, making way for the new and improved saline breast implants. Now, saline is essentially just a mixture of salt and water, and is said to be much safer for the body if it happens to open up and leak. But in 2006, silicone really made a comeback.

The FDA approved two new silicone styles that made breasts look even more natural than the Baywatch era of the 90s. So of course, people once again started getting them. And here's a little public service announcement. Even though breast implants don't expire, they are not supposed to last forever. The average saline or silicone implant lasts anywhere from 10 to 20 years.

So I'm sure you've heard of this because I've heard of this too. Like a lot of people with breast implants have been getting really sick. Well, just make sure you keep an eye on that shit. Okay? That's all I can tell you because I don't have breast implants. So it's like, I don't know. I feel like I can't really, but just keep an eye on it. Will you? Okay.

Great. So now, now where are we? Well, with the rise of like reality TV and Instagram models, having the perfect body became, or it felt like almost a requirement for some people, especially when you would see online the perfect butt or chest or lips or hair, or just getting hundreds of thousands of likes on social media. I mean, stack this on top of getting a boob job.

getting a facelift, fillers. It starts to cost an insane amount of money to keep all this up. I mean, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons reported that 15.6 million cosmetic procedures were done in 2020 alone. Hey, I thought we were on lockdown. What were you guys all doing? Getting procedures done? Smart.

I didn't think of that. I mean, this got me thinking, like, what do you think this says for the future of cosmetic surgery? And this circled back to the original story we led with, should you have to disclose to your partner that you've had...

facial surgery or something if you have kids. Like, does that matter? I don't think it would, but then I don't know. That guy up top, it mattered to him. Anyways, lots of thoughts here, you know? Plastic surgery can really be whatever you want it to be. I mean, the whole reason it started was to help people feel better in their own skin, right? And that's great. We love that.

And then it became an upgrade or seen as an enhancement, a chance for people to look however they desired, which also love. In my research, I came across Dr. Suzanne Noel, who is considered the world's first female plastic surgeon. And she also created different plastic surgery techniques in the 1920s and even compared a woman's right to get cosmetic surgery

to a woman's right to vote. She said, quote, that every woman should be able to have a youthful appearance and be able to choose their own destiny as they see fit, end quote. Snaps. I'm sorry for making fun of you, Joan. You can have those titties. Fly high with those titties, Joan. So it'd just be funny if you're like minding your own business and you look up and you see this bird with titties.

I don't know, Joan, but that's a choice, you know? Good for you. I'm glad you're living your truth. Anyways, so yeah, like much of history, there's always two sides to this. No matter how flat you make a pancake, there's always two sides.

Look, I don't like Dr. Phil all that much, but that's the one thing I'm like, "Okay, Dr. Phil, you slap." Because that's so true. No matter how flat you make a pancake, there's always two sides. I hate that. Anyways, so now some see the plastic surgery industry as like taking advantage of women's insecurities, but others like Dr. Noel see the choice to get plastic surgery as empowering. So get plastic surgery or don't get plastic surgery. Either way, do what you want.

Do what you choose in life. Just remember, do your research when it comes to doctors. But most of all, remember this, a new face.

will not change your shitty attitude. Fix yourself inside too, okay? Awesome. Well everyone, thank you for learning with me today. And remember, don't be afraid to ask questions and get the whole story because it's fun. I think learning is actually quite nice. Now I'd love to hear your guys' reactions to this story, so make sure to use the hashtag #darkhistory over on social media so I can follow along.

Also, join me over on my YouTube channel where you can watch these episodes on Thursday after the podcast airs. And while you're there, also, check out my Murder Mystery makeup. It's always a good time, too. I hope you have a great rest of your day. You make good choices. And I'll be talking to you next week. Dark History is an Audioboom original. This podcast is executive produced by Bailey Sarian, Junia McNeely from 3Arts, Kevin Grush, and Claire Turner from Maiden Network.

Writers, Katie Burris, Alison Filobos, Joey Scaluzzo, and me, Bailey Sarian. Shot and edited by Tafadzwa Namarundwe and Hannah Bakker. Research provided by the Dark History Researcher team. A special thank you to our expert, Emily Yuki Takayama. And I'm your host, Bailey Sharian.

And that's Joan. And that's Paul. Poor Paul. He needs a makeover. Joan, I'm so excited to get your bandages removed. I can't wait to see those titties flying high in the sky. They're gonna be like, oh, is that a bird with tits? I'll be like, yeah, I know her. We can like touch them because they'll be swinging when you fly. It'll be fun.

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