Reality shows have monitored all the different aspects of life: how people date, live together, survive and dress. However, the latest round of reality TV shows is taking the term makeover to a new level. Shows like I Want A Famous Face and The Swan focus on people attempting to change their lives by getting plastic surgery.

"It's ridiculous," Erin Staab (junior-political science) said.

Staab said she's not really a fan of the shows.

"They're amusing but disheartening," she said.

Caitilin Foster (senior- biobehavioral health) said she agrees.

"I like I Want a Famous Face because the people on the show are funny and kind of dramatic, but I think The Swan is wrong," Foster said. "After these people get so much surgery, they can still be told that they aren't pretty enough."

The Swan chooses two female "ugly ducklings" and separates them from their friends, family and mirrors for three months while the women undergo plastic surgery to change their appearances. Once the ladies' new looks are revealed to them and their team of surgeons, dermatologists, therapists, dentists and trainers, the woman with the best transformation gets to move onto The Swan's ultimate beauty pageant.

MTV's I Want A Famous Face follows individuals who have chosen to have plastic surgery to alter their appearances to mimic the look of their favorite celebrities.

"If you're still told you're not pretty enough after a ton of money being spent on cosmetic surgery, what then?" Foster said.

Mary Beth Oliver, an associate professor of media studies, said these shows have more than just an impact on viewer entertainment.

"The shows serve to disinhibit people about plastic surgery," Oliver said.

Oliver said the media are generally guilty of portraying unrealistic body images.

"Advertising has always preyed on the insecurities of individuals, offering them rescue options," she said.

I Want A Famous Face focuses on another problem facing the population: wishful identification.

"[Wishful identification is] individuals who feel that they have relationships with media icons that parallel reality," Oliver said. "Having plastic surgery to look like a certain celebrity is an example of wishful identification taken to an extreme."

Additionally, Oliver said these shows are disheartening.

"People should want to emulate attributes like political activism. Mimicking someone's nose job is pretty superficial," she said.

Colin Smith (junior-engineering science) said that he does not understand why people would want to change their appearances with surgery.

"I guess people all have different viewpoints," he said. "I'd never do it."

Smith said he does not really watch the shows and has not seen a full episode of any of them.

"It's disgusting. I can't really stand to watch it," he said.

Foster agreed that the shows are often too graphic.

"It's gross seeing fat being sucked out of a person," she said.

While Oliver said these shows might increase the occurrences of plastic surgery within the general public, Staab said she hopes that won't happen.

"These shows are trying to teach people that altering your appearance with plastic surgery is acceptable," she said. "I hope they don't succeed."