In the societal race to look physically perfect, Sacramento State students are not left behind. Aside from dieting and exercising, there is a not-so-natural way to improve your appearance, and now it is easier than ever to achieve.

Plastic surgery, specifically breast augmentation, is a growing trend between teenagers and young adults. No longer do you have to be part of an elite class to afford such luxuries as plastic surgery. Starving students can get these pricey surgeries with the help of financing and credit cards.

After all of the consultation, surgery and anesthetic fees are said and done, the going rate is approximately $4,600-$5,800 for breast enhancement surgery. Four different surgery clinics in close proximity to Sac State including Plastic Surgery Center, across Howe Avenue on Scripps Drive, and surgeon Andrew Kaczynski’s office, which is on Cadillac Drive towards the front entrance to Sac State, reported having financing readily available for surgery through a separate financing company. Most of the time there is not even a down payment required.

Two Sac State seniors who wish to remain anonymous made this dream into a reality. The two girls had a common goal, to look better and feel better, but they have two very different experiences.

For, “Mary,” getting breast implants has really improved her life and the way she feels about herself. At just 20 years old, she had saved up the $5,700 and decided to get the surgery. She wanted to enhance her breasts in order to make her body look more proportioned and to make clothing fit better.

Mary chose a newer procedure that involved inserting the implants through her belly button. This procedure is designed to reduce scarring.

“The procedure only took about 45 minutes.” Mary said. “After I came out of surgery I felt fine, I was just a little sore and tired.

In a matter of minutes she went from a full “A” cup to a full “C” cup.

The recovery time was short, as well.

“I had to wear a girdle for a week and a half to close the tunnels that were created in my abdomen during the surgery,” Mary said.

She also had to have a drainage tube at the point of incision for two days.

“My dad was originally against the surgery, he thought that I would dress and act different,” Mary said. “But after the surgery my parents took care of me and were very supportive. I would do it over again and I wouldn’t change a thing.”

Mary does have a little advice for women considering the surgery: “Never shop cheap, it is your body.”

For, “Jill” however, the quest for bigger breasts has not been so easy.

“I knew for a long time that I wanted them,” Jill said. “One day I went in for a consultation and the day after I got the surgery.”

Like many other 22-year-old college students, Jill turned to her credit card to absorb the $4,700 expense.

Jill went from a full “A” cup to a “D” cup. She had the implants inserted through her areola (the area around the nipple), which is a more common procedure. Her surgery only lasted for about an hour and a half. She was up and about the next day and back to the gym just one week later.

“After the surgery my clothes fit better and I had more confidence,” Jill said. “People treat you different too, guys are nicer and girls are meaner.”

But the joy of the new additions to her body was short lived. About eight months after the surgery, Jill started to experience complications. She was having capsular contractions in one of her breasts. This happens when a build-up of scar tissue forms around the implant. This caused one breast to drop naturally and the other to remain stiffly in place. It can be painful, as well as physically unsatisfactory.

“Now I have to have a second surgery to remove all of the scar tissue and then put a bigger implant in its place,” Jill said. “I am also supposed to take vitamin E everyday and take an asthma inhibitor every day for six months to hopefully make the breast drop.”

The asthma inhibitor can be expensive and consumption of alcohol is not allowed while on the medication which can put a damper on the social life of a 25-year-old college student.

“I probably wouldn’t do it over again,” Jill said. “If someone wants to do it, they should do it. Just understand that there are risks involved and be prepared to deal with those risks.”

Any woman considering the surgery can do their research; check out each doctor thoroughly and make sure that the doctor you choose is accredited to perform cosmetic surgery.