On New Year's Eve an old friend showed up at a New Year's Eve party and had obviously had work done. She used to be an absolutely beautiful woman but the work she had done is terrible. She clearly had fillers injected into her frown lines and cheeks giving her a weird, bloated appearance similar to the appearance of ill people who are on steroids and puff up from it. She also clearly had filler injected into her lips which has created a fish-faced effect.

I pretended not to notice. Later in the evening (we both stayed overnight at the host's home) the friend confided in me that she had "a few things done" and asked what I thought. I responded, "you always look great" to side-step answering her. I'm worried that she'll do more! I don't know if these fillers disappear after a while or calm down in their appearance, so didn't want to say what I meant which was "I strongly preffer your natural appearance". I'm wondering what others would have said? She really looks kind of weird with this stuff in her face and truly - this woman was absolutely gorgeous before she did it. Now it's obvious she's had these procedures done, she looks like she's trying too hard to recapture her youth (before she just looked way younger than she is), and has this weirdly plastic, cartoonish appearance.

What would you have said?

The same thing you said. I'm not one to cause a stir with friends.

Hmmm, she can't unring the bell, so not sure if you should have told her something to prevent her from continuing to ring the bell. A very pretty coworker of mine in her 40s had done the same thing and couldn't stop with the botox and lip injections. Now she looks like she belongs in a comic book. She would never have taken me seriously in her fervent desire to challenge Father Time. Probably anything you said against it would have gone in one ear and out the other.

Thanks. If she had told me before she had the procedures about her plans I would have tried to talk her out of it. I didn't want to let on that it doesn't look good and make her feel badly, and of course, she has a mirror. On the other hand she seems to have a distorted view of herself, so I felt that I wasn't a very good friend not correcting that image. Ugh. She has adut kids - hopefully her daughters will be less delicate if she considers repeating these procedures.

Does this stuff wear off after a while? It's really terrible - if you're thinking of doing it - Botox or fillers or whatever - please don't. It really looks weird. Wrinkles can be part of a very beautiful face, and a face without expression is just odd.

Thanks. If she had told me before she had the procedures about her plans I would have tried to talk her out of it. I didn't want to let on that it doesn't look good and make her feel badly, and of course, she has a mirror. On the other hand she seems to have a distorted view of herself, so I felt that I wasn't a very good friend not correcting that image. Ugh. She has adut kids - hopefully her daughters will be less delicate if she considers repeating these procedures.

Does this stuff wear off after a while? it's really terrible - if you're thinking of doing it - Botox or fillers or whatever - please don't. It really looks weird. Wrinkles can be part of a very beautiful face, and a face without expression is just odd.

Yes, it doesn't last forever. But, she may just get it redone anyway.

You should have said "Have you seen Meg Ryan lately? Joan Van Ark? Bruce Jenner?"

Why do people do this? I am gay but Meg Ryan was so gorgeous and now she looks scary.