BEAUTY WITHOUT PAIN
Non-surgical sculpting to look younger and better have outpaced conventional implants and surgeries
Going the natural way is the new mantra nowadays even for those wanting to look younger and thinner in India, which is why non-surgical procedures are gaining popularity over cosmetic surgery. “People don’t want surgeries these days as everyone is busy and don’t have time for hospitalisation and longer downtime, which is why people are opting for either non-invasive or minimally invasive procedures,” says Dr Shahin Nooreyezdan, senior consultant, department of plastic and cosmetic surgery, New Delhi’s Indraprastha Apollo Hospital.
Doctors claim that non-surgical work has taken off in a big way over the last decade. Butt and breast lifts, contouring of the face, body and abdominal muscles and sculpting of the lips is becoming increasingly popular, with demand for these relatively simple and affordable procedures far outstripping the now-stagnant orders for liposuction, rhinoplasties and tummy tucks.
When Stuti Sharma (name changed), 42, decided to get married for the second time, she wanted to look as good as a “first-time bride”.
“She asked me to lift her breasts and contour some areas of her face so that she could look young again,” says Meenakshi Agarwal, plastic and cosmetic surgeon at the Face and Figure Aesthetic Plastic and Laser Surgery Centre in Mumbai.
In fact, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons data shows that breast lift procedures are growing at twice the rate of breast implant surgeries. Breast implants are still by far the most performed cosmetic surgery in women, but since 2000, breast lifts have grown by 70%, outpacing implants two-to-one, as per the data.
However, doctors claim that in India, demand for breast work is still very low as compared to the West. “We are still a conservative society and hardly consume any breast implants. India’s obsession lies with fat and ageing; they want to look thinner and younger and with the advent of several non-invasive procedures, peo- ple are starting much early,” explains Dr Nooreyezdan.
Dr Sunil Choudhary, director, institute of aesthetic and reconstructive surgery, Max Healthcare, agrees that breast implant market in India never really picked up. “Implant market is going down; breast lift is picking up. Liposuction and fat grafting have redefined structural fat grafting. In liposuction, fat is taken out from the body. Fat grafting involves purification of extracted fat and injected it back in the areas that require a lift,” he says.
While working on sagging breasts, the fat is put in layers to give them a near-natural appearance.
For face-lifts also, minimally invasive techniques are available that have an edge over the conventional surgery as the scar is barely visible. “We do endoscopic facelift, wherein tiny punctures are made instead of a proper incision,” says Dr Choudhary. The main change is the shift from artificial to natural substances for the growth and regeneration of skin. “We are using a person’s own blood products and tissues as fillers. No artificial substance is used,” says Dr Ajay Kashyap, director and head of plastic surgery department, Fortis la Femme Hospital.
“We call it injecting a person’s own platelet-rich-plasma, a blood component, into the affected location after sterilising it in a lab. The skin gets back its natural look as the cells regenerate,” he adds. “We have seen an increase of about 40% in the number of such cases over the past three years,” says Meenakshi Agarwal.
People these days are net savvy and make use of the technology available at the click of a mouse to zero in on the look they want to appear younger and prettier.” It is quite amusing the way people come to us with photographs that they have downloaded from the internet and request us to reproduce the effect on them,” says Dr Kashyap.