A pair of blood-smudged surgical gloves appears on the giant screen, then a glistening scalpel, which slides with ease into the pale, yellowy skin. ‘These,” explains the heavily-accented narrator, ‘are all little tricks to deal with the problem of the dog ears.”
It is an overcast morning in Copa-cabana and in a big circus tent, erected only metres from one of the world’s most famous beaches, hundreds of stylishly dressed delegates crane their necks at two cinema screens. Welcome to what organisers have described as the biggest cosmetic surgery event in history. With about 2Â 400 surgeons from nearly 80 different countries in attendance, the biannual reunion of the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (Isaps), which ended this weekend, is the multibillion-pound industry of cosmetic surgery in action.
That the world’s leading cosmetic surgeons have packed into Rio de Janeiro’s five-star beachfront hotels is no coincidence. For decades Brazil has been considered a thriving centre for cosmetic surgery, and it is now at the heart of a growing wave of surgery tourism, with foreigners jetting in for a few days on the cutting board and a week’s recuperation on the beach. After the United States, home to 5Â 000 registered cosmetic surgeons, Brazil comes in a close second, with about 4Â 000.
In the dimly-lit main hall the dele-gates gaze up in admiration as a Belgian surgeon explains how best to do away with dog-ears (a surplus of skin, common with facelift operations). ‘We are very happy with this,” chirps the doctor over a video link from a clinic down the road where he is performing the conference’s opening facelift live.
Plastic surgery long ago ceased to be taboo in Brazilian society. Celebrities talk openly in the media about their facelifts, wrinkle reductions and bum tucks, while several glossy magazines dedicated to the topic appear on newspaper stands across the country.
It is a mega-industry here, as the stream of BMWs and Mercedes which have poured into the conference all week testifies. Its guest of honour, Brazil’s superstar surgeon, Ivo Pitanguy, boasts his own island off the Rio coast.
Exact figures are hard to come by, with doctors reluctant to talk about how much the Brazilian market is worth. Americans spent around $12,4-billion on plastic surgery in 2005, according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery; doctors here say Brazil is not far behind.
At first glance the event seems more like a fashion show, with an abundance of Prada handbags, men’s pinstripe suits and designer glasses. Cosmetic surgery has traditionally been seen as the reserve of Brazil’s wealthy upper classes. That, however, is changing, according to Joao Carlos Sampaio Goés, one of Brazil’s superstar surgeons. The development of ‘minimal incision” and ‘less invasive” operations at walk-in clinics is starting to democratise access to cosmetic treatment, he says, suggesting that private clinics will soon be found in some of the city’s shanty towns.
Irrespective of class Goés believes Brazil’s love affair with what is known here as plástica is rooted in mentality, climate and legislation.
‘Brazilians have a much greater ease in seeking out plastic surgery,” he says. ‘It is a tropical country, where people enjoy exposing their bodies. This helps stimulate people to have surgery.”
Brazil’s medical legislation has also paid a considerable part, he says. Silicone breast implants, outlawed in the US for 10 years, have been part of Brazilian life since 1993. This, Goés says, has effectively given Brazilian surgeons a 10-year head start.
Natural beauty seems a distant concept at the Isaps exhibit hall. You are confronted with a mass of stalls, each hawking supposedly pioneering cosmetic surgery techniques, ‘barbed sutures”, ‘liposelection” and ‘jet peel” among them. Racks of fluorescent silicone implants adorn the stands.
There are ‘internal bras” (small gauze strips that can be placed beneath the breast’s skin); tailor-made compression garments, some of which look scarily like tight-fitting Hanni-bal Lecter costumes, and ‘support threads”, which can be woven into the inside of the face, holding up one’s eyebrows rather like a curtain rail.
‘The tendency of Brazilians is the body as they show off their bodies on the beach: [they mainly opt for] liposuction [or] work on the abdomen,” says Goés, explaining why Brazilian surgeons are among the world’s best when it comes to barrigas (bellies) or bundas (buttocks).’These techniques come predominantly from Brazil,” he says, while European surgeons rule the roost in wrinkle treatment and facelifts. —