The Cosmetic Plastic Surgery

Cosmetic plastic surgery is "like diamonds, jewelry and fancy cars," said Dr. Michael Gellis, chief of plastic surgery at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak. "If you don't have the money, you don't spend the money on it."

He said his business has declined 40%, similar to estimates offered by the most candid of more than a dozen plastic surgeons interviewed.

In a new wrinkle for Michigan's battered economy, plastic surgeons are experiencing the worst downturn ever for cosmetic procedures - while the treatments soar elsewhere in the country.

The pinch began two years ago and by mid-June of last year, "everything suddenly came to a standstill," said Dr. Michael Busuito, a Troy plastic surgeon. "Husbands told their wives, 'I don't care if you want a face-lift. I could lose my job.' "

With job cuts, home sales stalled and profit-sharing checks gone, demand in Michigan has dwindled for cosmetic procedures, particularly big-ticket surgeries such as breast augmentation and tummy tucks.

The decline has chilled Michigan's reception to the commercial comeback of silicone breast implants this year. And some consumers are lengthening the time between Botox injections, the way cash-strapped consumers postpone haircuts. Savvy plastic surgery veterans volunteer for new procedures for free.

"If he benefits, I benefit," said Doreen Kanakis, 50, of West Bloomfield. She underwent a face-lift five years ago by Troy plastic surgeon Kenneth Shaheen and was happy recently to undergo treatments with a new dermal filler to plump up parts of her face. Because Shaheen is just beginning one of the newer procedures, he has done three for free.

"A face-lift turns back the clock but it doesn't stop it," said Kanakis, who also had a breast augmentation and a permanent eyelid-liner procedure.

Procedures decline, surgeons leave

Veteran cosmetic surgeons have seen bad times in Michigan before. This time, all say it is the worst. Dana Johnson, chief economist for Comerica Inc., predicts at least another year of tough times for the state.

"If I were an economist, I'd use breast augmentation as the best indicator of the downturn," said Dr. Mune Gowda, chief of plastic surgery at St. John/Providence Hospital & Medical Center in Southfield. He has been practicing since 1979.

Requests for breast enhancement are down by 50%, he said, from 100 two years ago to 50 he did last year. "I used to be booked out three, four months ahead."

With the market saturated and doctors competing for a slimmer slice of affluent customers, young plastic surgeons are heading west to Los Angeles, Phoenix and Las Vegas, where the field is booming.

More turn to advertising

Advertising wars are building. Established plastic surgeons such as Gellis, reluctant before to promote themselves, have bought print ads. Others are building Web sites.

They are forced to do it, they say, because some plastic surgery chains spend thousands to pitch their services. Also more common are doctor offices aligning themselves with credit companies to offer no money down and no interest for a year. That is true, too, for laser eye surgery, another elective procedure pinched by Michigan's economy.

"People are not paying with cash or checks anymore," said Dr. Robert Beitman, a West Bloomfield refractive eye surgeon. "And they don't want to tie up their credit cards. They are using a lot of free cash."

But a little promotion may not be enough. The Henry Ford Health System recently added a message about breast enhancement for callers on hold to its main number. That is not enough to satisfy Dr. Herman Houin, a Henry Ford plastic surgeon trying to coax the health system to advertise. "It's been a thorn in my side for years that Ford doesn't advertise," he said.

Younger physicians say advertising is crucial to establish themselves early on.

Dr. Ayoub Sayeg, a Dearborn and Troy plastic surgeon who estimates his business dropped 40% in the past 18 months, spent $600,000 in advertising to launch his new business two years ago, he said.

Sayeg said he cut his advertising budget in half as he works with veteran publicist Warren David of Dearborn to build his Web site, www.yournewlooks.com, and to carefully select niche markets.

David suggests precise ads for precise markets. Soft-jazz stations get their ads for post-bariatric plastic surgery procedures. Rock stations are more likely to get a breast-augmentation pitch. He said he plans Arabic ads for Arab Yellow Pages and Chaldean newspapers. Sayeg said he'll soon venture into the Hispanic market.

"Plastic surgery is huge in Latin America," he said. "It's an underserved market here."

Credentials should be checked

Much like the laser eye wars between ophthalmologists five years ago, consumers should ask the name of the physician doing the surgery and inquire about his or her credentials. The doctors may not be board-certified. Some chains use moonlighting doctors.

Consumers should look for credentials with two main organizations: the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery in New York, or the Arlington, Ill.-based American Society of Plastic Surgery. Web sites for both groups list board-certified surgeons who have passed national exams and who take required continuing-education classes to stay proficient. Plastic surgeons credentialed by those groups can be found at www.surgery.org and www.plasticsurgery.org.

By Patricia Anstett, Detroit Free Press Medical Writer. Source: www.wzzm13.com