Plastic Surgery demand up in Lebanon
Posted by tearsforlebanon on April 20, 2007
Though the language of the advertisement differs according to
location – for the most part it appears in French and English in
Christian areas and Arabic in Muslim communities – the same
blond-haired, blue-eyed, fine-featured woman can now be seen from Haret
al-Hreik and Hazmieh to Sidon and Beit Mery.
It
might not seem like the ideal time to launch a campaign geared
exclusively to superficial concerns. But the postwar climate of
prolonged political and economic decline has done little to dilute the
infamous quest for physical perfection in Lebanon. This year local
demand for cosmetic surgery has increased by between 10 and 20 percent
from 2006, according to four of the country’s leading aesthetic
surgeons. By most accounts the mushrooming local market has
sufficiently compensated for a sharp decline in Gulf patients following
last summer’s hostilities. Lebanon’s cosmetic surgery market has been
steadily expanding over the past decade, with demand for procedures
like rhinoplasty, liposuction, collagen implants and injections of
Botox – a toxin that paralyzes facial muscles to remove wrinkles -
trickling down from the wealthy few to middle-class professionals
across the socio-economic and religious spectrum. But some doctors say
the latest boom is an unexpected consequence of the prevailing
political uncertainty.
“People are not going out anymore so they are staying home looking
in the mirror,” said Dr. Nabih Sader, the president of the 62-member
Lebanese Association of Cosmetic Surgeons.
“Since they’re not spending their money at night they come to get
work done, but Lebanese women have always been concerned with their
appearance, and plastic surgery here is competitively priced and meets
the highest standards.”
Sader estimates that local demand has risen by 20 percent since
October, when surgeries began to pick up following the war. Now he
caters almost entirely to the local market, though Gulf clients and
Lebanese citizens from abroad have slowly started to book procedures
this summer, shrugging off fears of an unexpected airport closure or an
outbreak of violence.
Like
all of the doctors interviewed, Sader cites rhinoplasty – nose jobs -
as the most popular procedure, due to the “oriental noses we have in
Lebanon.” Liposuction comes in a close second, followed by Botox and
filling – injecting a patient’s own fat into wrinkles – which have
become increasingly common among 35-to-50 year-old-women. Breast
augmentation always booms in the spring when women prepare for the
swimsuit season, and 2007 has proven no exception, doctors say.
About half of Sader’s patients are non-working housewives. The
remainder are female professionals making between $800 to $1000 per
month, self-employed women who “own their own stores or restaurants”
and students accompanied by their mothers.
“A lot of 18- to 22-year-old women come now asking for liposuction
in the hips because they wear low-rise jeans, but most of the time I
tell them to go buy different pants,” Sader said.
The profile of local cosmetic surgery consumers has remained
relatively stable over the past decade, though the volume of procedures
has increased, Dr. Paul Audi of St. Georges Hospital said.
“The local market is constant, and all along class has never been a
factor. Rhinoplasties have always been number one, and liposuction
number two. But we have developed new techniques that get people back
to their jobs quicker,” he said.
One new trend Audi identified in the local market is the rising
number of young male clients getting nose jobs and liposuction – love
handles are also a prime target. He reckons the number of male patients
increased by 10 percent from 2006 and that males will account for 30
percent of the total surgeries this year.
“Men are my most gratifying patients,” said Dr. Imad Kaddoura, the
president of the Faculty of Aesthetic and Cosmetic Surgery at AUB who
performs multiple breast reduction, rhinoplasty and hair operations on
young men each year.
“They follow instructions. If I tell them not to smoke, they don’t
smoke and they don’t sit in Cafe Najjar bragging about their surgeries.”
Though no statistics are available, Kaddoura estimates that
per-capita demand for cosmetic enhancement in Lebanon is roughly equal
to levels in America and Canada, which together recorded over 11
million procedures in 2006 – though only 1.1 million were actually
surgeries, with the remainder filling and Botox.
As in Western markets, plastic surgery for Lebanese appears to be
evolving from a luxury service to a matter of “maintenance.” Audi said
professionals who do not have time to go to the gym are getting
liposuction instead, which at $500 per “area” is a financial commitment
roughly equivalent to annual membership fees at Beirut’s more expensive
health clubs.
“It’s not vital, but people feel a need to correct their bodies and
are too busy to exercise so they go get liposuction or breast
augmentation,” he explained.
Surgical procedures in Lebanon are also an average of four times
less expensive than in America. According to a surgeon who declined to
be named “for ethical reasons,” the cost of rhinoplasty performed by a
local surgeon has not increased in 17 years, remaining between $1,500
and $2,000 compared to between $5,000 and $12,000 in the US.
“I don’t think people in Lebanon could afford to pay more than $2,000,” he said.
Kaddoura agreed that a Lebanese consumer would “go into a coma” if
asked to pay the minimum $25,000 fee charged for a facelift in America.
But competitive prices cannot account for women’s desire to look
like Haifa Wehbe and Nancy Ajram. Every doctor interviewed said he
received at least one and up to five requests weekly from women hoping
to resemble the stars.
“Thirty years ago color TVs were luxuries, perfumes were taxed as
luxury items, and salmon was considered gourmet food. Is this true
today? Plastic surgery is becoming part of routine maintenance, that’s
why prices have not increased,” the anonymous surgeon said.
isabell said
hey, anybody who know a very good plastic surgery doctor in lebanon?????? =)