Hamburg (dpa) – Pinning back protruding ears, straightening a crooked nose or enlarging a woman’s breasts have become no more than routine operations for a good many doctors.
Patients who undergo cosmetic surgery of this kind mostly believe an operation will leave them feeling younger and more attractive, and it is a feeling in which they are prepared to invest a great deal of money.
“For beauty we must pay” is an attitude seldom favoured by health insurers, the vast majority of which are willing to finance cosmetic surgery only in exceptional circumstances.
For this reason, experts advise potential patients to think long and hard before making an appointment to see a plastic surgeon.
There is a wide range of services on offer. Surgeons use so-called blepharoplasty or “eyelid tightening” to remove bulging fat pockets from under the eyes or saggy skin from the upper eyelids.
Ear pinning is referred to as otoplasty and rhinoplasty is the medical term for corrective surgery on the nose.
To combat the ravages of time, both tissue beneath the skin as well as the skin itself can be tightened and if necessary removed.
Some surgeons make use of a laser to erase wrinkles by vaporizing a different number of skin layers in different places. By contrast, dermabrasion involves scraping off the uppermost layers until very slight bleeding occurs.
Acquiring a new nose is like buying a new car – one simply picks out a suitable model and pays the price. It is well worth shopping around beforehand as prices for the same operation can vary by as much as 2,200 dollars.
According to the Hamburg plastic surgeon Peter Kunert, in Germany otoplasty generally costs between 1,100 and 2,400 dollars while rhinoplasty prices range from 1,300 to 4,000 dollars, with 4,400 dollars the upper limit.
Cosmetic plastic surgery can be performed on either an outpatient or inpatient basis with smaller operations requiring no more than a local anaesthetic. Major operations, however, such as lifting temples, cheeks or forehead, are usually performed under a general anaesthetic as an inpatient.
As a rule, recovery times vary from three to four days up to a period of several weeks, depending on the type of surgery performed.
The choice of surgeon is crucial if patients are to avoid waking up to a nasty shock. As Peter Kunert reveals, “An increasing number of doctors are now performing plastic surgery despite never having trained in this field.”
In Germany, the search for a well-qualified surgeon should begin at the Association of German Plastic Surgeons (VDPC) in Berlin. Suitable candidates may be jaw or ear, nose and throat specialists who have gained an extra qualification as a surgeon for facial plastic surgery.
Unfortunately, a competent surgeon is no guarantee against complications and before agreeing to surgery of any kind it is vitally important to discuss the details, including pre and post- operative treatment, as well as the potential risks of cosmetic procedures with a qualified medical practitioner.
Health insurers will usually require well-founded medical evidence, such as deformity or significant physiological problems, before financing plastic surgery, says Rolf Mentzell of the DAK, a leading German health insurance company.
For example, if a child with protruding ears is constantly teased at school, is withdrawn and under-performing academically, insurers may agree to carry the costs of otoplasty.
Similarly, if a client has lost 60 or 70 kilograms in weight, his insurance could be persuaded to pay for an operation to tighten his skin. Each case is decided on its own merits.
Christoph Kranich of the Hamburg Consumer Advisory Centre urges patients to “ask themselves whether a new nose is really going to make everything better.” Inferiority complexes and other problems may be the real motivation for cosmetic surgery, he points out.
Equally, it is perhaps unwise to undergo surgery for the sake of fashion. A new pair of lips a la Brigette Bardot may lose their attraction five years down the road.
