The next few months mark the time when the entertainment industry competes, not only through record sales and box office numbers, but for little gold statues. Switch on your television sometime in the next few weeks and chances are you will see hundreds of flawless actresses walking down red carpets in their size two designer gowns.

While it’s true that perfect faces and perfect bodies have always been the norm at events like the Oscars and the Grammys, it’s highly unlikely that any of us will be able to roll out of bed at 8 a.m. and leave for class looking like Angelina Jolie.

But recently, young adults have begun going to great lengths to alter their appearances, and many have actually turned to plastic surgery in order to emulate the skewed image of beauty portrayed by the media.

This past month, Heidi Montag , the 23-year-old star of MTV’s “The Hills,” appeared on the cover of People Magazine after having a record 10 cosmetic procedures done in one day. Even 23-year-old Megan Fox, who is widely known for being one of the most beautiful women in the world, has publicly berated her own appearance in interviews and is rumored to have had plastic surgery done on her lips.

Gabrielle Roberts, a junior linguistics major, feels that Montag’s procedures went above what is acceptable.

“She doesn’t even look like a real person anymore,” Roberts said.

But when does the desire to change and improve one’s appearance become an unhealthy obsession, or worse, a serious mental issue?

Amanda Deming, a Binghamton University graduate student in the field of clinical psychology, says that plastic surgery can sometimes be seen as a way to cope with BDD (Body Dysmorphic Disorder), a condition whereby a person experiences extreme mental stress due to an imagined physical flaw.

“It’s not uncommon for individuals with BDD to seek out plastic surgery as a ‘fix’ for their perceived defect or flaw. Individuals with BDD who seek out cosmetic surgery to fix their flaws are more likely to be younger than non-BDD consumers of cosmetic surgery,” Deming explained.

Deming went on to say that the media’s glorification of one body type has led many young women to become obsessed with their appearances.

“Women are internalizing what is referred to as the ‘thin-ideal’, and in doing so they associate having the media-endorsed body shape and size with happiness, wealth, glamor and social prospects,” Deming said. “Many women chase after these unrealistic (and often unachievable) standards, and falling short of the ideal takes a toll on their body image and self-worth. Plastic surgery is just another method that more and more women are willing to resort to in order to try to attain the unattainable.”

According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, college students account for about five percent of the plastic surgery procedures that take place each year, with the most popular procedures being chemical peels, nose reshaping and breast augmentation.

While this percentage may not seem very large, the number of yearly procedures has nearly tripled since 1997. In the same study, among those female students who had not undergone a procedure, 48 percent said they would consider it by the time they reached middle-age.

In a generation plagued by perfection, silicone may be the new cartilage.