The Checkup: Plastic Surgery Makes You Look a Decade Younger

• Last week, we learned that plastic surgeries saw an uptick in the number of procedures performed in 2011. Now we learn why: A new study found that patients who undergo cosmetic procedures look about nine years younger than their actual age. As the Washington Post reports, the years-younger effect varies by procedure, with face- and neck- lifts giving shedding nearly six years off a person’s life, and eyelid work shaving off 7.5. The patients who got the whole kit and caboodle—face- and neck-lift, eyelid work, and a forehead lift—looked 8.4 years younger than they were. Naturally.

• The new front in childhood obesity: school vending machines. The New York Times reports that the Obama administration will soon announce new nutritional standards for foods that can appear in school vending machines. Though no one knows for sure what the new standards will be—an announcement is expected within the next few weeks—nutrition experts expect the rules to line up with the revised standards put in place last year for school lunches—namely, measures that reduce salt, sugar and fat. Of course, not everybody’s happy about it (see: food and beverage industries).

• Hey doc, want to keep your patients healthy? Treat them like dirt.