June 01, 2010 | Blog
3 minute read
Baby Boomers are Putting a New Face on Their Curriculum Vitae!
Plastic surgery for the baby boomer generation
*originally posted in Long Island Press
Some aging workers have a radical idea about putting a new face on their curriculum vitae. Seasoned professionals have been turning to Botox injections and other minimally invasive cosmetic procedures to buff up their career prospects. Career pressures are a major reason why resorting to such procedures have increased substantially over the past five years.
People want to stay competitive, so cosmetic surgeons are seeing more business people who are in their 40s, 50s and 60s. Television shows such as ABC’s Extreme Makeover and FX’s Nip/Tuck have helped make cosmetic surgical procedures more acceptable to the public. A recent survey by Monster.com of 21,552 online visitors found that 53 percent said they believe that undergoing cosmetic plastic surgery would enhance their careers. Older professionals who might shy away from extensive surgeries with lengthy recovery times are turning to minimally invasive or nonsurgical procedures to lift sagging skin, remove under-eye bags, and plump up laugh lines to help them hunt for jobs or compete at work. Baby boomers are vulnerable to the suggestion that a shot of Botox or a partial facelift will make them more attractive to recruiters. They know they will be judged by people who are younger, and that is making them more likely to adopt these types of cosmetic procedures. It’s no secret that people are living longer these days. Advances in medical technology are partially responsible for longevity. But it’s also partly due to the fact that baby boomers and seniors are more active and healthy than in the past.
Baby boomers do not see themselves at age 50 the way they saw their parents at the same age, which is to say, old. The Woodstock Generation still consider themselves to be relatively young. But when baby boomers look in the mirror, reality often intrudes on that youthful image. Staring back at them are wrinkles, sagging chins and crow’s feet. So if they are feeling so good, they figure, why not look good, too? And guess who is going to the plastic surgeon more these days than in the past? Men.
The demand for cosmetic surgery has increased more proportionally in men than in women in the past 10 years. Up to 15 to 20 percent of cosmetic surgery is performed on men. In the past, between 94 and 98 percent of cosmetic surgeries were performed on women.
Patients are choosing from a long list of procedures that include facelift, breast augmentation, tummy tuck, liposuction, brow lift and several others.