New Couple Activity: Plastic Surgery
Although not proven, LA Times reported that plastic surgery has increasingly become a couples activity. The article goes on to give a short summary of a couple who went through lipoplasty after 13 years of marriage. The wife developed a muffin top and was having issues getting rid of it and decided that lipoplasty was the next step. A week later, her boyfriend for the same procedure done.
The article goes on to say that although there are no recorded statistics representing both groups, there is anecdotal evidence that more couples are having cosmetic surgery together. The trend is a corollary to the increase in recent years of cosmetic procedures performed on men, who now account for 9% of the total.
“It’s a male ego thing. When a wife comes in and has work done and is delighted with the outcome, the husband or partner feels more confident and secure and more likely to ask questions,” said Dr. Richard Chaffoo, a board-certified plastic surgeon who runs La Jolla Plastic Surgery in La Jolla. “Men are often initially introduced when they come in with their wives, who are looking at having this or that done. When the husband is in there, he sees some of the information, and then he sort of gets interested. Then, when the wife comes in for a post-operation appointment, we’ll talk about his eyes or neck.”
Lipoplasty is enormously popular for both men and women. In 2011, more than 300,000 lipoplastys were performed in the United States, surpassing breast augmentation as the most popular cosmetic surgical procedure for the first time since 2008, according to the American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.
Although this couple decided to get similar procedures done, not all couples will do the exact same procedures. According to Dr. Mark Mandell-Brown of The Plastic Surgery Experts at the Mandell-Brown Plastic Surgery Center, “Typically wives (girlfriends) will drag their husbands (boyfriends) along to help with the decision making when it comes to procedures like this. Between the questions and seeing before/after photos, the husband/boyfriend often becomes intrigued and may book a consultation for himself for a different matter.”
Rounding out the list of top anti-aging cosmetic surgical procedures for women are tummy tucks and cosmetic eyelid surgeries. For men, it’s eyelid surgery and gynecomastia, also known as male breast reduction, according to the ASAPS.
LA Times continues to explain that if “cosmetic surgery is, to some extent, about keeping up with the Joneses, there’s no more important Jones than a spouse. Psychologically, there’s just something unsettling about a man and a wife who are aging out of sync.”
“Sometimes the man will say, ‘Well, I think my wife’s looking good, and I don’t want to look as old as I look when she looks so young and energetic,’” said Dr. Malcolm Z. Roth, president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. “Maybe the man was the courageous one, so the wife follows suit,” added Roth, who has seen several couples celebrate their anniversaries with cosmetic surgeries as chief of plastic surgery at Albany Medical Center in Albany, N.Y.
Most doctors who’ve seen an uptick in couples plastic surgery say their clients are in their late 30s to early 60s. The women are typically done with childbearing, and both members of the couple are unable to lose weight through diet and exercise. It is at that point you make sure to consult with a certified plastic surgeon to figure out what is the next best step.
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