From budget-friendly Botox to luxury facelifts, America is in its heyday of plastic surgery. The pursuit of youth and thinness has never been more ubiquitous — it's no longer the exception, but the rule.

Why it matters: Beauty has always mirrored culture. Today's standards — skinny, ageless and split between hyper-masculine (sharp jaws) and hyper-feminine (tiny waists) — reveal how Americans see status, success and self. • "Both men and women want to look good. They want to look refreshed ... But they don't want to have that operated look," Bob Basu, president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, tells Axios. The American cultural aesthetic "is moving towards more undetectable plastic surgery." • Not even the financial anxiety of COVID (and staring at yourself on Zoom) slowed

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