What will the future hold for the nip-and-tuck generation?

You know, the folks who have purchased shapely noses, collagen-inflated lips, pectoral implants, breast enhancements, etc.? The ones with the philosophy that if you have a physical feature you don't like, snip, trim, laser or suction it?

Having opted for surgical shortcuts to happiness, do they at some point reveal their beauty secrets to their prospective mates? Maybe they say something like, "Honey, we need to talk. This is not my real chin."

Along with prenuptial agreements, perhaps the "beautiful people" will have to demand unretouched baby pictures plus multiple letters of reference from people who knew the spouse-to-be in elementary school and who can vouch for the authenticity of his or her looks. How else to guard their posterity?

Because if these cosmetic poseurs haven't been genetically engineered, their offspring are going to look like the old version of them, and that may take some explaining.

I guess when a guy meets a woman who looks like she's wearing an inflatable life jacket under her dress, his first thought isn't going to be how they'll explain to a future daughter that she will probably never measure up to Mom.

I guess there will come an appropriate time for a man to explain to his son the facts of life as they pertain to male-pattern baldness -- all the while running his fingers through his implanted/transplanted hair.

If the renovated couple have been honest, at least with each other, they can strategize for the future. For instance, when their son fails to grow into his ears, rather than tell him it's charming, they can confess that Dad had the same thing until he had himself fixed.

The refurbished parents can swear to their babies every day that they love their precious kiddie snaggletoothed grins -- even though they apparently didn't love their own. Mr. and Mrs. Gorgeous can inform their little ones that, rather than saving money for college, they have been saving for the children to, well, save face.

Hey, families can start whole new traditions, like the formal explanation of why the youngster is wonderfully intelligent but has only average looks. Instead of learning about honesty and the importance of being yourself, the kids can learn more valuable lessons in forbearance when people say, "Is that your mom?" with the unasked question, "What happened to you?" quivering unspoken in the air.

Understand, this is in no way meant to reflect on people who turn to professionals to correct the effects of a serious birth defect or the consequences of an accident. I just find it hard to understand why some people are willing to go through hell to get from attractive to perfect.

And trust television to ride this burgeoning neurosis with not one but two shows in the broadcast line-up. One is fiction ("Nip and Tuck," FX) and the other is (I'm laughing out loud) a reality show ("Extreme Makeovers," ABC).

Whether art imitates life or vice versa, maybe we can blame this growing propensity toward two-faced behavior on the denizens of Hollywood, where looks and celebrity are rapidly replacing skill and talent.

Yeah, let's blame them.

The important thing to remember here is that beauty is only skin-deep -- and with enough money and a tolerance for pain, families can keep it that way from generation to generation.

Contact staff writer Agnes Diggs at (760) 740-3511 or adiggs@nctimes.com.