More men opting for plastic surgery

Former Huber Height resident Marion Pennington never thought he would seek out plastic surgery, but after he lost over 250 pounds he struggled with the extra skin left behind.

“A lot of the excess skin would actually bounce and was an insecurity of my own,” said Pennington.

He now lives near Indianapolis, but chose Centerville plastic surgeon Dr. William Rigano to perform excess skin removal on his abdomen and thighs.

“Everything is great, no regrets,” said Pennington, “I look at myself in the mirror and feel normal.”

More men than ever are choosing plastic surgery to fix flaws.

“I am definitely seeing more men come in for surgical procedures and even a little bit more on the non-invasive side- for Botox and fillers,” said Dr. Rigano.

Over 17 million cosmetic surgeries and procedures were performed in the U.S. in 2016, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, and the number of cosmetic procedures performed on men has jumped 325 percent since 1997, according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.

Among women and men, Botox was the number one non-invasive procedure and breast augmentation was the number one surgical procedure in 2016, according to the ASPS survey.

New trends include fat grafting- where fat is taken from one area and placed in another, and Kybella- an injection touted as a double chin eraser.

If you are considering plastic surgery talk to several doctors and research the pros, cons, and costs, said Dr. Rigano.

Credit card debt on track to break the record

“It’s just out of control. I mean it’s kind of frightening.”

That was the reaction of Michelle Potter of Trotwood when I told her that Americans are on track to break the all-time record for credit card debt this year.

U.S. consumers were three billion dollars shy of the credit card debt record in 2016, but this year we will beat it by $100 billion, according to the financial website WalletHub.

Outstanding balances are at $979 billion, which is nearly as much as we owed right before the Great Recession, the WalletHub 2016 Credit Card Debt Study found.

The average household credit card debt is up six percent to over $8,000 and experts say we are charging freely because of economic improvements.

“They don’t think through the what-ifs or the possibilities of layoff,” said Lisa Roberts, Graceworks credit counselor, “I think those old habits kind of come back.”

She said she’s seeing more people struggling with multiple store credit cards that offer discounts.

“It makes you feel like you are saving- when in actuality you are not- you are building a big mountain,” Roberts said.

If you are under a credit card debt mountain or fear it’s not too far off, one simple step could help- switch back to mailed paper statements.

“When you don’t get the paper statements, I can see someone very easily losing track,” said Roberts.

Also, create a budget, pay down high interest cards first, and don’t just make the minimum payments.

If you need help, Graceworks offers free credit counseling.

St. Pat’s spending to hit an all-time high

Grab the green beer and the gaudy leprechaun t-shirts- we are going to spend a lot of dough on St. Patrick's Day this year, according to the National Retail Federation.

More than 139 million Americans say they’ll be celebrating the Irish holiday and they expect to spend an average of $37.92 per person- for a grand total of $5.3 billion- an all time high, the annual NRF survey found.

Craigslist safety and why you should Google yourself

If you missed my story on how to stay safe while meeting up with someone to buy or sell something - here's my story on Craigslist safety.

If you are looking for a job- or plan to at some point- this is why you need to Google your name.

Rachel Murray is a WHIO-TV consumer reporter. You can watch her reports on News Center 7, follow her on Twitter @RMurrayWHIO, and like her fan page on Facebook.

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