Story c/o The Daily Mail

The number of middle-aged men going under the knife in the name of beauty has risen by more than 140 per cent in just five years as they struggle to come to terms with “menopaunch”, reveals a new report.

Men aged over 50 are forking out as much as £3,700 and taking weeks off work to undergo liposuction and other procedures such as eye bag removal (blepharoplasty) in a bid to remove stubborn fat, according to a cosmetic surgery company.

Figures produced by The Harley Medical Group show that liposuction - including work done on the abdomen, flanks, chest and chin areas - accounted for 24 per cent of surgical procedures for 50-something men.

23rd July 2007
 

NHS doctors are increasingly under pressure to perform cosmetic surgery for women unhappy with their looks.

New research reveals that surgeons are being cajoled into offering patients thousands of pounds worth of treatment they do not need. It exposes the lengths to which some women go to persuade surgeons to operate on them for nothing - using ploys such as unflattering make-up and clothing.

The study, to be published in the British Journal of Plastic Surgery, finds that surgeons are turning a blind eye to health authority guidelines, justifying the use of treatments only in ” justified cases” because of pressure from patients.

Human Face Made Up of Distinct Fat Compartments; Busts Myths About Facial Aging and Anatomy
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill., June 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ –
Plastic surgeons are tossing out the old-school belief that gravity is the primary culprit for facial aging. A study in June’s Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery(R), the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), reveals the human face is made up of distinct fat compartments that individually change with age and the degree to which our faces age is dependent, in part, on how these compartments change over time.
“Contrary to popular belief, the human face does not age uniformly,” said Joel Pessa, MD, ASPS Member Surgeon and study lead author. “We thought facial fat was one confluent mass that eventually got weighed down by gravity, creating sagging skin. However, we were shocked to find not only is the face made up of individual fat compartments but these compartments gain and lose fat at different rates.”
According to Dr. Pessa, the face is a three-dimensional puzzle with fat partitioned into discrete units around the forehead, eye, cheek and mouth. A youthful face is characterized by a smooth transition between these compartments, but as we get older abrupt contour changes occur between these regions due to volume loss, volume gains, and repositioning of the compartments. These changes lead to tell-tale signs of facial aging such as sagging or hollowed skin and wrinkles.
With this breakthrough, plastic surgeons will be able to more accurately pinpoint trouble areas and use injectable fillers to add volume to individual sections of the face, creating a more effective way to turn back the clock.
According to the study, this discovery may also benefit cancer and trauma patients who require reconstructive plastic surgery. The authors uncovered that the individual fat compartments have boundaries between them that act like fences. These fences allow the face to maintain its blood supply should it become injured. This anatomical discovery may allow for better results for reconstructive plastic surgery patients. In addition, plastic surgeons can begin to use this new way of thinking to better understand facial deformities, such as cleft lips and vessel tumors.
“Much of facial anatomy remains a mystery,” said Dr. Pessa. “This discovery will undoubtedly play a role in how we view aging and how we approach facial reconstructive plastic surgery.”

Date Released: 06/18/2007    

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[14-01-2007] By Ian Willoughby  -  Radio Prague
 Around a month ago I was sitting in a café on Manesova Street, near the centre of Prague, when in walked a small blonde woman of about 40 and sat down at the table beside me. One doesn’t like to stare of course, but she appeared to have two black eyes covered with slender strips of plaster. Minutes later another woman, a brunette, walked in wearing big, dark sunglasses and with a bandage on her nose. They both spoke with broad Geordie accents and I couldn’t help but wonder about them. Were they friends united in misery who had escaped violent partners in England for a quiet weekend in Prague?
 But then the penny dropped. A colleague had conducted interviews with UK clients - is patients the right word for those who undergo non-necessary surgery? - who stay in hotels and luxury flats on the street before and after their procedures. Overheard snippets of conversation touching on operating times confirmed they were not battered brides. The blonde’s freshly unhooded eyes and her pal’s new nose may even have been an early Christmas present from their partners.
Just a few days ago the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) strongly protested against a lottery launched in the UK in which the prize was free cosmetic surgery performed in Prague. The competition was held by one of a number of British firms which facilitate cosmetic surgery in the Czech Republic.
It seems BAAPS’s protest had nothing to do with a fear of losing clients to eastern European rivals. They said marketing tricks like lotteries had no place in medicine, and they would be just as strongly opposed if the prize operation were to be performed in Britain itself.
But why are the competition’s organisers and other agencies bringing their clients to Prague? For two main reasons it seems. Nips and tucks in the Czech capital cost British people around a third of what they would cost them at home. And apparently Czech plastic surgeons have acquired a reputation in the UK for professionalism. (By the way, there is quite a history of cosmetic surgery in this country: Professor Frantisek Burian, who established a chair of plastic surgery at Prague’s Charles University in 1938, is regarded as one of the fathers of modern plastic surgery.)
Cheap flights from regional centres all around the UK are also a factor: groups of beery lads on stag weekends aren’t the only beneficiaries of the budget airline boom.