The Inside Story: From Plastic Surgeons

The thought of having plastic surgery sends chills down my spine. But, for some, it seems to be a professional necessity – look as young as possible or risk the loss of your career and the ability to earn a living. In the February 2017 issue of Allure magazine there’s an article titled Secrets of Celebrity Plastic Surgeons by Kristin Perrotta who gives both a humorous and realistic account of what really goes on in this world. Here are brief excerpts:

“A 29-YEAR-OLD ACTRESS CAME IN FOR A FACELIFT.”

“I had a 29-year-old actress come in for a facelift because she didn’t like how she looked on a magazine cover.” ‘If I do it when I’m 29, I’ll always look 29,’ she said. “I had to explain that it doesn’t work out that way,” says Andrew Frankel, an associate clinical professor of otolaryngology at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine in Los Angeles and a facial plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills. He adds, “It’s almost as if they think the year that you have your surgery is when you stop aging. You have to just say no.”

“THEY’LL DENY IT TO THE HILT.”

Robert Singer, a clinical professor of plastic surgery at the University of California, San Diego, and a former president of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery says, “I’ve had situations where actresses have said that they’d never have plastic surgery and they’ve just had a facelift.”

“A LOT OF WHAT YOU READ IN THE TABLOIDS IS REALLY TRUE.”

“We have five exits from our building – and we use them cleverly to divert and decoy the paparazzi,” says Frankel. “The tabloids aren’t all bad – a lot of their news is true. I can tell you firsthand.” 

“IT’S AN UNDERGROUND, INVITE-ONLY KIND OF THING.”

“I go to Dubai every three months and Moscow once a year,” says Jason Diamond, a plastic surgeon with offices in Beverly Hills, New York City and Dubai. “In the Middle East and New York I have a license. But in Russia, I go without a license because most of it is underground. When I go to Moscow I have to be very discreet.”

“THEY HAVE TO BE THE SAME AGE FOR 35 YEARS.”  

“For the average movie star, the more their life demands that they are in public and making appearances, the harder it is to find a window to perform a procedure,” says Frankel. “So while doing subtle changes in stages is a nice idea, you really have to get it all done in one procedure. Soap opera stars are the exception. They’re not supposed to look any different from day-to-day. Those changes need to be subtle and HDTV is extremely revealing.”

 “THERE ARE ANATOMICAL LIMITATIONS.”

 Simeon Wall Jr., an assistant clinical professor of plastic surgery at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas says, “Celebrities tend to have expectations that are out of line with reality because they’re used to just being able to have everything. They don’t understand that this is a surgical procedure. For example, someone with a boxy waist or narrow buttocks won’t understand that you can’t give them the shape they want. They don’t like hearing any of that.”

MAY WE SUGGEST…

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UPDATE: The New York Post, 3/3/17, reports that facelifts are coming back. “After years of coming in every three months for Botox or soft-tissue fillers, women are realizing they are spending as much as they would have on a facelift – and the results are only temporary,” says Dr. Daniel Maman, of 749 Park Plastic Surgery in Manhattan. He says that the big trend among his New York patients is the natural look. “Patients say they don’t want that frozen Nicole Kidman look.” Ouch.