The NYT reports about a new trend in plastic surgery:
American women had about 1.5 million cosmetic surgery procedures in 2005, up 5 percent from 2004, according to data extrapolated from a mail-in survey of doctors conducted by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Most went it alone, and there are no hard numbers on how many underwent surgery together. But doctors interviewed for this article had no difficulty citing examples of me-and-my-pal office visits, or of friends who went through an operation together as a way of supporting each other. Some women have even found surgery buddies on the Internet, a friend to compare information with and to give each other courage. In a medical field that popular culture, especially television, portrays as offering consumers the goodies of a bazaar (“I’ll have those lips, and these breasts and a stomach like that, please”), it is hardly surprising that patients feel comfortable asking a friend to help select a nose. Friends help you choose eyeglasses, don’t they?