Ethnic Differences in Cosmetic Surgery

Different nationalities are choosing cosmetic surgery that is “tailored to their cultural preferences and ideals of beauty,” according to a  New York Times article that finds there are procedure trends within different ethnic groups.

“When a patient comes in from a certain ethnic background and of a certain age, we know what they’re going to be looking for. We are sort of amateur sociologists,” said Dr. Kaveh Alizadeh, of Long Island Plastic Surgical Group.

Here are a few of the ethnic trends doctors interviewed for the story reported seeing:

• Egyptians are getting face lifts.
• Iranians favor nose jobs.
• Dominicans are getting buttocks lifts.
• Russian women favor breast augmentation.

Cosmetic surgery has been becoming more popular within ethnic groups in the United States. A 2010 survey by the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery revealed that more than half of the respondents thought the popularity of cosmetic surgery had grown among members of their racial/ethnic group in the last five years.

Motivations for ethnic cosmetic procedures seem to have changed according to Victoria Pitts-Taylor, a sociology professor at Queens College. She said that in the early days of cosmetic surgery immigrants underwent procedures to try to look “more American.”

Today, however, rather than trying to fit in, many immigrants have procedures that reflect their home culture’s trends.

“My patients are proud of looking Hispanic,” said Dr. Jeffrey Yager, whose office is in a largely Dominican neighborhood in Manhattan. “I don’t get the patients who want to obscure their ethnicity.”

One Dominican patient of Dr. Yager’s is Italia Vigniero, 27, who got breast implants in 2008 and is considering a buttocks lift. “We Latinas define ourselves with our bodies,” she said. “We always have curves.”

The doctors point out that in addition to their own cultures, immigrants are also influenced by U.S. pop culture and reality TV shows about cosmetic surgery.