Media Await "The Money Shot."

The eminent Beverly Hills board-certified plastic surgeon Stuart Linder, M.D – our “Dr. Body” blogger—talks about some of the behind-the-scenes stories that happen when Hollywood celebrities try to have plastic surgery in secret. Also commenting is the well known Robert Kotler, M.D., a top Beverly Hills board-certified cosmetic plastic surgeon who has appeared on television’s Dr. 90210 r. Dr. Kotler – a member of the American Medical Writers’ Association – blogs as “Dr. Face”.

The  American Plastic Surgeon bloggers additionally belong to many professional organizations, including:

• · The American Academy of Facial Plastic Surgery and Reconstructive Surgery.
• · American Board of Plastic Surgery
• · The American Medical Association

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Dr. Face (Dr. Kotler): Not too long ago, a leading talk show hostess  with a household name – and face — recognizable to everybody, scheduled some plastic surgery for 4:00 in the morning and drove herself to a nearby parking garage. But she was apparently still sleepy and crashed her car into a support beam inside the garage and attracted all types of attention, including the police, to herself.

Dr. Body (Dr. Linder): And you don’t mention her name because…….

Dr. Face: Medical privacy. There are strict federal laws these days about identifying any patient with a medical procedure. Celebrities have always required anonymity because they want to project and protect an image of natural, untouched good looks and complete natural beauty. Even though,  by the way, we doctors do not require laws to protect patient identities. Patient confidentiality, without exception, is accepted by society. Not even a court of law can require us to testify about any medical issue, including cosmetic plastic surgery, related to any patient. Famous or otherwise.

Dr. Body: I also heard a story from an older plastic surgeon about Fanny Brice, a famous actress of the 1930s and 40s. She insisted on having plastic surgery in a hotel room instead of a hospital just to keep the story out of the papers.

Dr. Body: I heard an anecdote about a celebrity who is no longer with us – Gary Cooper. I heard the story from the surgeon to whom it happened when he was working, back in the 1950s. Anyhow, Cooper thought his looks were fading a bit so he had a face lift here in Beverly Hills and then accepted an offer from the surgeon to stay in his home while recuperating. It was all supposed to be hush-hush, of course, but the surgeon’s eight-year-old son went to school and told everybody he knew. When the surgeon left for work the next morning, he found his front yard full of reporters and photographers.

Dr. Face: That situation no longer exists for celebrities who not only have cosmetic surgery in complete secrecy but have secret hide-a-ways with nursing staff in and near Beverly Hills.

Dr. Body: We also accommodate models, actresses and other celebrities with a back entrance and invented names on paperwork. It’s very important because people’s ability to make a living is at stake. When a patient leaves my office with a breast augmentation and then makes it into a Playboy magazine centerfold, well, I’ve done more than my job.

Dr. Face: Speaking of recovery centers: I can think of one well known establishment that is known in medical circles as the “Face Lift Hotel”. My patients have used it many, many times. In one case, a man who owned an entire island brought his girlfriend to the recovery center with him. Part of my post-op instructions to rhinoplasty or face lift patients are to refrain from intimacy for ten days because sexual activity will raise the blood pressure to dangerous levels.

Dr. Body: I think I see where this is headed….let me guess, he did not follow doctor’s orders, things got steamy with his girlfriend and…

Dr. Face: Yes! He started bleeding from an incision. So I was summoned from my own bed in the middle of the night to do a quick remediation which did the trick. But I do think he followed my instructions for the rest of his stay in Beverly Hills because there were no more bleeding episodes and his surgery healed just fine. I’m familiar with most aftercare facilities because it is often much easier for me to go there for the morning after surgery medical check than to have the person risk another trip to my office through the throngs of photographers.

Dr. Body: Celebrity photo hounds are so driven, they know the car license plate numbers of top actors and actresses. Thus, famous people who are more camera shy and familiar with photo stalkers wily ways just rent a car to go the plastic surgeon’s office.

Dr. Face:  I once had a very famous actress leave my office after a follow-up appointment for a nose job. But before she walked out the door, she put on a pith helmet with shoulder length dark mosquito netting attached the rim. The U.S. President could have been wearing that get-up, but nobody would ever know it!

Dr. Face:  Bottom line: about the most educated guess among Beverly Hills plastic surgeons is that most celebrities over age 40 have had some cosmetic plastic surgery and will be in the market for more, later on. So the chase will not end soon; newshounds find ever more clever ways to find out what star is having what procedure while plastic surgeons and the stars’ continue thinking up ways to avoid them.

Dr. Body: That’s right, doctor; news people pay huge tips and finder’s fees for good information; they have a whole network of eager “spies” including people on the stars’ own payrolls, bus boys, waiters, parking garage attendants, gatemen and guards at the studios and many, many others. Some news organization members have gone through surgery just to check themselves into a recovery center to get to know a star as just another patient while some news outlets have even purchased homes next door to celebrities to get the “untold” story.

Dr. Face: The only practical answer is operating in the middle of the night! The paparazzi don’t figure on us operating while they snooze.

In a seeming celebration of things American, two of Beverly Hills many eminent cosmetic plastic surgeons are being featured in this month’s American Way, the inflight magazine of American Airlines.

Your humble bloggers, the Beverly Hills board-certified cosmetic plastic surgeon Robert Kotler, M.D.  (who blogs as Dr. Face) and Beverly Hills board-certified plastic surgeon Stuart Linder, M.D. (our Dr. Body blogger) tell more about  why Beverly Hills is widely regarded as the world Mecca of plastic surgery and why many patients come here from lands far outside the United States. Apparently, some fly the friendly skies of American Airlines.

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Dr. Face (Dr. Kotler): I’ve read a lot of amazing things about you, Dr. Linder, but according to this month’s American Way magazine, you are – and I quote  –  “one of the highest regarded breast revision surgeons….. in the world!” And, I would agree.

Dr. Body: (Dr. Linder): I’m humbled; there are many, many highly competent plastic surgeons in Beverly Hills, so it’s a real honor to receive that type of praise.

Dr. Face:  As the magazine so aptly points out, there are 39 cosmetic plastic surgeons on our street alone – and this is a very short block! Our other neighbors include 11 cosmetic dentists and 5 dermatologists, some of whom perform minor plastic surgery services like dermabrasion. You could almost call the talent in Beverly Hills an embarrassment of riches. No wonder the magazine wants its travelers to know more about the area.

Dr. Body: I’ve noticed on the television program, Dr. 90210, some surgeons tell patients, there are more plastic surgeons in one Beverly Hills office building alone than in the entire state of Montana.

Dr. Face: While we do sit cheek-by-jowl with Hollywood and its movie and T.V. industries, Beverly Hills cosmetic plastic surgery long ago stopped servicing only  the rich and famous. Sure, wealthy people still shop and use other exclusive services but the reality is that the explosive growth of Beverly Hills cosmetic plastic surgeons in the last several decades happened because the procedures became affordable for most American and International patients. The costs of face lift, rhinoplasty, breast augmentation, tummy tuck and other popular procedures came down due to:

• Better technology
• Better medications
• Shorter operating times
• Going from expensive hospitals to private outpatient surgery clinics.

Dr. Body: And so our and our colleagues’ work sits up there on the silver screen, allowing 60-year-old actors to look perhaps 40 or 45. Southern California is a huge area, so many ordinary people who also want surgical rejuvenation come to Beverly Hills. And apparently, thanks to the Internet, the word has spread to other U.S. states and foreign nations. For instance, how many patients from abroad have you served in your practice?

Dr. Face: At last count, it was patients from 33 foreign nations, and all 50 U.S. states. It’s easy for patients because they are picked up at the airport, taken to their choice of many, many local hotels and then, for the night after surgery, stay at one of several plastic surgery recovery centers which have been aptly been named “face lift hotels” by local wags.

Dr. Body: On my website, I have an interactive map of the world, showing where international patients have traveled from, including China, the Middle East and Australia. (Look at the map of Dr. Linder’s plastic surgery patients’ home nations.) I think the statistics are like yours with patients traveling in for surgery from 23 nations and 40 U.S. states.

Dr. Face: With loads of theaters, various ethnic restaurants, night-life clubs – some of which are frequented by celebs pictures in People, OK and other celebrity observers – there is much here to take in before returning home. There’s just no place like Beverly Hills and greater Los Angeles. For instance, this month’s Saveur Magazine, a guide to fine dining worldwide, devoted an entire issue to Los Angeles.

Dr. Body: A great deal of all this is possible, thanks to the Internet and the “virtual consultation.”  People in foreign nations can take some pictures of the body or facial areas they want treated and tell the surgeon a few other details so we can “virtually” consult through email, on the phone or via Skype.

Dr. Face:  But don’t get the idea it’s email-to-the-operating room. Once the patient arrives in one of our offices, we go through everything again with the concept that we have never seen this patient before.

Dr. Body:  And don’t forget economics! Currently, the U.S. dollar is relatively weak and creates some attractive bargains for people in Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Sure, exchange rates fluctuate, but right now, America looks “cheap” to much of the world.

Dr. Face: For instance, a man in Italy told me it would be more cost-effective for him to come to Beverly Hills, have nose surgery, stay for seven to ten days and fly home than to have plastic surgery in Switzerland, which was about two hours from his home.

Dr. Body: Well, here we are, doctor, talking all about the American Way article when, thanks to the Internet, we can send people there to read about for themselves.

Dr. Face: Capital suggestion! Read the plastic-surgery-in-Beverly-Hills article in American Way. Enjoy!