Racism And Plastic Surgery

If America is a melting pot, then New York is a stew. The components work together to create a satisfying meal, but you can still tell the difference between the meat, the carrots and the potatoes.

Every neighborhood has one predominant ethnic group and their cultural likes and dislikes are clear, from what is available in the stores to how people dress in the street. But a new group is noticing these trends — the plastic surgeons.

“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,” Dr. Kaveh Alizadeh, the president of Long Island Plastic Surgical Group, told the New York Times.

“We are sort of amateur sociologists.”

In 2009, five percent of the Asian population in the United States had plastic surgery. It seems like a lot, but the number is comparable to the three percent of Hispanics and four percent of Caucasians who had procedures done in the same year.

Unlike trends of the past, where immigrants wanted to obscure their ethnicity, doctors are finding that many people are just looking to be attractive according to the standard of their home country.

So here is the very general, and kind of racist, list of nationalities* and preferred procedures.

Dominicans — Butt enhancement

Chinese — Nose jobs, earlobe enhancement, double eyelid surgery

Russians — Breast augmentation

Koreans — Slim jaws

Egyptians — Facelifts

Italians — Knee rejuvination

Iranians — Nose jobs

Interestingly, while what people are asking for is often a reflection of their native culture, the actual act of having surgery is quite American. Like everyone else, these immigrant groups are being affected by shows like Bridalplasty, which both glamorize and normalize the procedures.

How sad that the one thing that brings all these groups together is a deep-seated belief that they just aren’t good enough the way they are.

*Although they didn’t make the NYT article I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that Wasps want boob jobs, nose jobs, facelifts and gastric banding.

Contact the author here: mick@morningquickie.com