Chasing Beauty offers a female patient/participant peek into the glamorized but risky cosmetic surgery industry. Jamieson's story details the struggles of an ordinarily ugly girl who sought beauty to escape low-class life and family neglect. It describes her confusion between image and self-worth; of reliance upon looks to satisfy self identity. Chasing Beauty examines the trial of growing from a neglected child into a woman. Lacking parental guidance, the author chose the media and men as guides toward a strong feminine existence. Chasing Beauty questions the relentless cultural enforcement of feminine perfection and warns against yielding to the siren call of youth. Jamieson instead comes to champion emotional substance and simplification for survival. The author's extensive surgical journey ends at the age when many women are just beginning to consider cosmetic surgery to preserve youth or beauty. By only age 36 she is tired of ""Chasing Beauty,"" and of the social rule that she must.