The extreme surgery: labiaplasty
The dirty details: This procedure sculpts and reduces your vaginal lips and yes, it typically involves a scalpel. (Cue millions of women wincing and crossing their legs.) It can be medically necessary in very rare cases, but experts say many women get it so their genitals will look more perfect. After the surgery, you can't have intercourse for about four weeks, and your genitals will be tender and swollen for several months. Cost: $5,000 and up.

Why you may not want to go there: In 2007, The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists issued a position statement against cosmetic vaginal procedures due to the possible risks. With surgery in such an incredibly sensitive area, there's a chance you'd permanently lose some feeling or intercourse could become painful.

Better than surgery: Try to get past your self-consciousness. "A lot of shyness and anxiety stems from not being familiar with your body," says Kearney-Cooke. Check yourself out after a shower with a pocket mirror. It may sound like a "Saturday Night Live" skit, but the more you look, she says, "the more comfortable and accepting you become."

The extreme surgery: toe shortening or lengthening
The dirty details: A surgeon trims or shaves bone or, for elongating, drills into the tip and inserts a metal rod. According to the American Orthopedic Foot & Ankle Society, these surgeries should be done only for medical purposes — a painful hammer toe, for example. Yet women are doing it to look better in their strappy shoes. It takes four weeks or so to heal; you must stay off your feet the entire time. Cost: $2,000 to $2,500 per toe.

Why you may not want to go there: "By lengthening or shortening a toe — even a tiny bit — you end up shifting more weight to the other four, which can lead to problems such as bunions, nerve pain and balance issues," says Judith F. Baumhauer, M.D., chief of the division of foot and ankle surgery at the University of Rochester in New York.

Even when the surgery goes well, the healing process can be brutal. Nicole, a 26-year-old salesperson in California, recently had both of her big toes shortened when she went in for medically necessary bunion surgery. "I was out of work for four weeks," she reports. "I had severe pain in the arch of my right foot after the first surgery. And the bones in my left big toe didn't heal properly after the second procedure; four months later I'm still not better." The medical boot she now has to wear isn't exactly the show-them-off, Jimmy Choo moment she'd been looking forward to.

Better than surgery: How about a nice pedicure? Use nudish polish; it downplays a too-long-or-short toe more than bright or dark shades. Then go shopping, says L.A. stylist Christina Ehrlich, who has worked with Jessica Biel and Nicole Richie: "Peep-toes or pumps that reveal toe cleavage are great — you get just a hint of toe."

The extreme surgery: shoulder lipo
The dirty details: A doctor vacuums the fat out of the shoulders to create a more lean, defined look. It can take up to six weeks for the swelling to subside. Cost: $750 and up per shoulder.

Why you may not want to go there: Because unlike thighs and bellies, shoulders never pudge up much in the first place. As Donna Karan, the queen of shoulder-baring dresses once said, "Shoulders are the one place a woman will never get fat — so show 'em!"

Better than surgery: Do a few minutes of triceps dips, shoulder presses and lateral raises several times a week and you'll see more definition in a month (for the how-tos, register for Body By Glamour). "Shoulders respond very quickly to strength training," says Wayne Westcott, Ph.D., fitness research director at the South Shore YMCA in Quincy, Massachusetts.

The extreme surgery: belly button reshaping
The dirty details: With umbilicoplasty, as it's officially called, "women often make their 'outie' into an 'innie.' But some want almost imperceptible changes, like making theirs look less deep or less round and more diamond shaped," says John Grossman, M.D., a plastic surgeon with practices in Beverly Hills and Denver. The surgeon usually cuts an incision around the navel, stuffs some of the skin inside to create the desired look, then sews it back up. Women often get the procedure done in conjunction with a tummy tuck. Cost: $5,000 to $7,500.

Why you may not want to go there: Small as the area is, there's still a risk of infection, prolonged pain and scarring. Plus who knows what you'll end up with? "There's some consensus about what makes for an attractive, well-proportioned face. But we have no definition of an ideal navel," says David Sarwer, Ph.D., of the Center for Human Appearance at University of Pennsylvania Medical Center in Philadelphia. "You might not be totally happy with the way yours looks, but you won't necessarily know how to make it prettier, either. And the doctor doesn't really know any better than you. That's a lot to chance."

Better than surgery: Consider this: "Look, everyone's body is different but fantastic in its own way," says Ehrlich. "Even celebrities have insecurities about their looks, but they're not all getting things fixed! Instead, they work their best features and carry themselves with confidence." A little self-love will feel a lot more satisfying than any plastic surgery, and the only known side effect is happiness. Try it — the surgeon general would most definitely approve.

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