FROM THE HOLLYWOOD HILLS TO THE WASHINGTON BELTWAY….
EVERYBODY’S DOING IT

Not too long ago it seemed like every plastic surgeon lived in California and all of their patients were either aspiring starlets or aging actors and actresses. The rest of us watched from afar, wondering which of our favorite film stars recently had a facelift.

Today, it's the rest of us having facelifts...and tummy tucks, liposuction, breast enlargement, skin smoothing and a whole host of other procedures that have become popular due to advances in technology, decreases in costs, and changes in social acceptance. Cosmetic surgery has moved from being a “Hollywood phenomenon” to a fast-growing national and international trend. In fact, some of the most respected and experienced cosmetic surgeons now live and work right here in the Washington metropolitan area.

One of these, Dr. Shlomo Widder of the Widder Cosmetic & Plastic Surgery Center in Vienna .Va , and Bethesda. Md., says his patients come to him from all walks of life and a wide range of ages. "We had a joke in medical school," says Dr. Widder, who has been practicing plastic surgery since 1985, that the age of a patient is not a limiting factor in cosmetic surgery, just the age of the doctor."

Dr. Widder performs a long list of elective surgical procedures, including facelifts, liposuction, nose reshaping, breast surgery, chemical peels, tummy tucks and others. While his patients end up with improved physical appearances, Widder believes their greatest gain comes in the area of heightened self-confidence. "Often it's not so much the looks but the confidence that you have, the attitude, the personality you project that matters. If you feel good about yourself it shows. And people like confident people."

Fixing Our Physical Faults

While some cosmetic surgery amounts to a person's gift to themselves, such as removing those love handles or gaining that extra cup size you always wanted, other procedures are aimed more at overcoming serious problems.

At Washington. D.C.'s Canter for Laser Surgery. Dr.
Robert Adrian has more than once used state-of-the-art lasers to improve a patient's social standing by removing a stigmatizing feature. "If I use laser hair removal to eliminate a dark beard from a teenage girl, I don't consider that a cosmetic procedure," he says. 'I consider that a medical procedure. "Recently I removed a large dark blue birthmark from the face of a young college-age woman. She told me afterward that this would be the first time she would go back to school in the fall without having to answer the question, What's wrong with your face?"

Hollywood Mingles With The Work-a-Day World

Dr. Ronald S. Perlman, M.D.. with offices in washington, D.C. Greenbelt, Md., and Olney, Md., is another local plastic surgeon with a national reputation for excellence. In his fifteen years of practice. Perlman has seen some changes in the industry. “In the early years the most common procedure in my office was breast augmentation,” he says, “while in the last 10 years the most common has been liposuction,” due largely to the fact that liposuction is not age- or sex-specific and therefore draws from a larger pool of potential patients.
"Cosmetic surgery has obviously gotten more popular in all age groups." says Perlman. "I see a lot more younger people now than I used to, say between the ages of 18 end 25. They're interested in things like liposuction, breast augmentation, and rhinoplasty."

The other big growth area. according to Perlman, Widder and others, is made up of people in the middle age group who are still competing in the job market and are trying to look their best for that reason.

"Basically the bottom line to all this is that cosmetic surgery is now available to the everyday person, whereas before it used to be just for the stars in Hollywood." says Perlman. "It's gotten to be so visible, in the health magazines and the news end so forth. People are much more educated today in exactly what plastic surgery is about. You cant turn on a TV or radio without hearing something about plastic surgery.”

Plain economics has also helped fuel the boom in cosmetic surgery. "The prices have come down a bit, and people are more willing than ever to spend some money in order to look good," Perlman says. "It's worth it to them to spend a few thousand dollars to look better and feel better, which then carries on to the rest of their lives."

Of course, just because plastic surgery js finding more and more non-traditional devotees doesn't mean the traditional applications aren't still going strong. "I personally do a lot of the beauty pageant people," says Perlman. "I've worked with a lot of the Miss USA, Miss America, Hawaiian Tropic folks. So I see both sides—the middle aged job hunter and the model/beauty pageant women from around the country. It makes for an interesting practice."