Plastic Surgery Links

In 2009, the transferring of the Miss Universe crown from one Venezuelan to another, from 2008 winner Dayana Mendoza to Stefania Fernandez, caused a sensation in the world of beauty pageants. It was the sixth time Venezuela had won the Miss Universe crown in the 59-year history of the pageant. It was also the first occasion that the same country had claimed the title twice in a row.

Venezuela’s afterglow from winning yet another Miss Universe crown has definitely spurred its women to the more widespread application of cosmetic surgery. Surgical enhancement of the body has become such a norm in Venezuela these days that it has emerged as a top destination for “scalpel tourism” by foreigners looking for a lift or new contours at relatively cheaper prices.

“There are patients who come from Colombia, the USA, Ecuador, the Caribbean islands. They have surgery and then spend a few days on vacation,” explained Rosi Oyon, head of a French subsidiary selling silicon breast implants.

Denials that their beauty is anything but natural is par for the course in the beauty pageant world, but for plastic surgeons there was no doubt that Fernandez had a little help.

“I didn’t operate on her, but I am sure that she has had work. They all have,” Daniel Slobodianik, a plastic surgeon who has helped several Venezuelan celebrities better fill out a bikini, said.

Vanessa Brito, a 27-year-old Caracas resident who had breast implants fitted five years ago, explained that surgery was common for women from all walks of life.

“I think there’s a social pressure in Venezuela, a beauty ideal that can be seen in contests like the one for Miss Universe. And seeing that, everyone wants to look the same,” she said.

Laura Gonzalez, a 19-year-old student, agreed. Over the past four years she has had a nose job and breast enlargement.

“This goes beyond the Miss Universe contest. Venezuelan women love to look good. We love to get our hair done, to dress well. A woman needs to feel good about herself, and it’s something that has really influenced me,” she said.

“Venezuelan woman are among the most vain in the world. Beauty is considered a basic necessity,” Arturo Rojas, the head of another breast implant supplier in Venezuela, said.

Girls barely in their teens sometimes receive plastic surgery as a gift from their parents, as in the case of Yudnara, a 13-year-old who made a pre-op trip to a doctor’s office accompanied by her mother.

Even the risk of infection, which can lead to a mastectomy in the case of silicon breast implants, does little to dissuade adolescents from wanting to get plastic surgery done. Breast enlargement surgery is by far the most popular procedure in Venezuela, with an estimated 30,000 breast augmentations carried out each year, according to specialists.

“Mammary prostheses are the backbone of Venezuela’s beauty market,” Oyon said.

In this segment of the market, French-made silicon sacs are considered more reliable and smoother and tend to dominate over rival US, Chinese and Brazilian products. They account for around 80 per cent of the enhanced busts created. For foreigners visiting to improve their neckline, the difference in cost can be significant. In Caracas, breast enlargement goes for around $US2500, compared to several thousands of dollars more in other countries.

Some prominent British plastic surgeons have warned patients who travel abroad for plastic surgery, that they are putting their lives at risk. These so-called “safari surgery” trips will be responsible for at least one death soon.

There has been a growing trend for people in the UK to combine an overseas holiday with a cheap cosmetic operation. However, this is leaving patients with botched plastic surgery which needs to be corrected when they return home. On plastic surgeon recently told his organisation’s annual conference that he had to perform corrective surgery on one patient who paid only £650, including flights and accommodation, for breast implant surgery in Thailand.

The overseas surgery market is worth an estimated £60 million a year and surveys show that up to 70 per cent of Britons would consider travelling abroad for a nip or a tuck. Growing numbers of patients are  heading to destinations like eastern Europe and the Far East, where operations can cost a fraction of what they do in the UK. There have been so many cases of disastrous, botched and irreversible plastic surgery that it seems sometime soon, somebody will die after going on a surgery safari.”

A campaign has been launched, aimed at putting a stop to irresponsible sales techniques, such as digitally enhanced models in adverts and financial incentives for surgery. Usually, the women featured in these unethical advertisements give a completely false presentation of what can be done with cosmetic surgery and sets unrealistic expectations.

Campaign managers have insisted that they are not criticising the clinics highlighted, but merely the advertising techniques that they use to bring in patients. Under a voluntary code of conduct, drawn up by the Independent Healthcare Authority, to which many clinics have signed up, cosmetic surgery companies have a requirement not to create unrealistic expectations in their patients.

Plastic surgery comes from the Greek word plastikos, which means to fit for moulding. The origins of plastic or cosmetic surgery can be traced back to 500 B.C in India when the practitioner Sushruta, reconstructed prisoners nose’s and earlobe’s that had been amputated. In recent years, the cost of having of cosmetic surgery has come down dramatically. One of the main reasons has been the emergence of medical tourism.

Medical tourism involves taking advantage weaker currency rates in other countries and/or low cost air travel, to travel abroad in order get world class medical treatment in a foreign country. As part of the recuperation process, the patient can even spend time holidaying at a resort in that foreign country while the wounds heal.

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