When Tina Niswonger's daughter was 14, she'd walk into her mom's room after a shower and sit on the bed to visit. With her fresh-scrubbed face devoid of makeup and just-washed hair wrapped in a towel, she presented a portrait of beauty that could nearly overwhelm her mother with feeling. It was a beauty that was unadorned, natural, innocent. Many mothers think their daughters are beautiful. But Niswonger, a longtime Valley artist and instructor at California State University, Fresno, with a new show opening Thursday at Gallery 25, thinks deeper about the concept of beauty than most people. Her daughter's beauty, blooming at this point in her life like a delicate flower, was something to be cherished and protected.And Niswonger saw how fragile that beauty could be when subjected to the cultural forces that pound women, especially teenage girls.

DON'T TURN BLIND EYE TO EYE-TATTOO RISKS

IF you think tattoos are so over, you've got another think coming. The latest in permanent ink? Tats on your eyeball. That's right - a sharp stick in the eye.

When doctors do it, it's called corneal tattooing; but when perfectly healthy folks looking for new horizons in tattooing, piercing, scarring, etc., do it, it's nuts.

Last month, the online magazine BMEzine.com (short for Body Modification) started chronicling three people's efforts to turn the whites of their eyes blue.

To tattoo the eyes, they used two different procedures. First they used a traditional needle with ink on it, but when the ink didn't hold, they switched to a syringe that injected ink into the eye. The most recent posts indicate that all was well, with one of the guys saying it felt like he had something in his eye.

Fabulous feet

Stop taking your feet for granted. "Treat them as well as you treat your face," says Ji Baek, founder of New York's Rescue Beauty Lounge. "People panic because they neglect their feet for so long. Then they buy lots of fancy products and use them for a week. It needs to be a simple everyday routine, just like washing your face."

"Use a foot file when your skin is damp after you dry off. Do one direction very slowly and not just the heel - do your entire foot," says Baek.

Paul Krassner: Assholes of the Week #3

Dick Cheney, for pretending that it was a sudden change for him to be in charge of the White House only during the 2-1/2 hours that the so-called president was under sedation for a colonoscopy. Also, E-bay has confirmed that Cheney attempted to auction off the five polyps which were removed from Bush's colon and diagnosed as benign despite their malignant host.

*NBC producers for bribing police across the country, and those same police for accepting the bribes, to let "Dateline" film confrontations with suspects who were lured to homes with hidden cameras, including a suspected predator who was arrested and filmed at his own home after failing to show up at a rigged house 35 miles away, and killed himself as the cameras closed in on him.

State weighs records in doctor investigation

State health officials said that their investigation into a Greenwich plastic surgeon accused of abusing drugs prior to a scheduled surgery could include gathering medical records, taking statements, conducting interviews and having patients' cases reviewed by consultants.

"Generally speaking, the department collects information and brings in consultants to help review it," said William Gerrish, spokesman for the Connecticut Department of Public Health. "There's a whole host of things that we do with an investigation."

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Aspen Dental Opens Dental Practice in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania

Industry leader brings more smiles to area with affordable, full-service denture and dental care.

Aspen Dental will provide a full range of denture and dental services, including hygiene, oral surgery, fillings, teeth whitening, and crown and bridge. Aspen, a leader in denture services, offers eight models of its leading comfidents® brand, custom-crafted full and partial dentures. To accentuate its denture offerings, the Mechanicsburg office will have its own denture laboratory, which ensures same-day turnaround for new dentures, denture repairs, relines or adjustments.

Lotto Survey Reveals Big Winners Secrets

Horticulture and farm workers, taxi and truck drivers and office workers are the luckiest professions in New Zealand according to a NZ Lotteries' survey of past big Lotto winners.

The survey, of 75 past big winners (who had won between $400,000 and $15 million plus), shows that nine percent worked in the farming or horticulture sector, while a significant five percent were truck or taxi drivers. Thirteen percent were office workers.

The survey asked Lotto Family* winners a range of questions about their win – such as what they spent their money on, how they felt after winning, and advice they would give other winners having been through the experience themselves. .

Breast implants are linked to a higher suicide rate

Women who receive implants for breast enhancement are three times more likely to commit suicide, said a new report. Deaths related to mental disorders, including alcohol or drug dependence, also were three times higher among women who had the cosmetic procedure, researchers said.