By Chris MacKinnon
New You Convention
It wasn’t so long ago that plastic surgery was the recourse of fading movie queens, an indulgence of the very rich or the strange obsession of Michael Jackson. Now Botox is part of the common lexicon, The Swan is prime-time TV fare and the price tag for a facelift is dropping. We’ll leave it to the sociologists to pinpoint just when the plastic revolution went mainstream, but the idea that our God-given features can be rearranged is now comfortably ingrained in the public consciousness. As a service (or caution) for those contemplating a date with the scalpel, and to mark the New You convention taking place in Toronto this weekend, here are the top five most requested plastic surgeries in Canada, according to Dr. Wayne Carman, a Toronto cosmetic surgeon:
1. Breast augmentation “There’s no question it’s the most popular procedure. Basically, you’re placing an implant behind the breast to increase its size. It’s as simple as that. I think the numbers are increasing and it’s getting more mainstream. A lot of women are, you know, 36 years old, live in Don Mills, had two kids and want to look better. It’s not like they’re in movies or doing anything particularly exotic with their lives.”
2. Botox injections “Over the past few years the volume of people doing Botox has just mushroomed. a lot of it is related to ageing. It’s not an operation; it’s an injection. You’ve got a wrinkle that’s suitable to be flattened out with Botox, why not? Think of getting a flu shot, except it’s in your face. It hurts a bit It’s not permanent but it works well. All kinds of normal people who don’t like the wrinkles come in, zap zap, and goodbye.”
3. Liposuction If you go to California it’s on billboards and full-page ads in the paper. It’s another world down there. It wasn’t so long ago you’d talk about liposuction and people would go, ‘What’s that?’ Now people come in and they know about a lot of the technical issues. It’s not for obese people. It’s for people who are average weight, maybe a little heavy. You’re making an incision and inserting an instrument that has a specialized tip with holes in it for suctioning out fat. Say someone is pretty fit, but they’ve got this chunk and it’s a bothersome contour thing. You can suction the fat out from those areas and give them a cleaner body shape. Double chin, it’s great for that. Suck out the fat from your double chin, it goes away.”
4. Tummy tucks “Tummy tucks are becoming increasingly popular. A tummy tuck is where you make a bikini-line incision, loosen up all the skin and the fat that’s attached to it, pull it all down and remove it. So you’re taking away all the extra skin from the front of the abdomen and creating a very tight, snug shape.”
5. Eyelid surgery “I tell my patients: ‘Three years later, you’re still going to look good.”
The cosmetic-enhancement show New You runs today and tomorrow at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.