Blog: Who Is Getting Cosmetic Surgery?
A recent perspective demographic survey has found that women are more likely to receive cosmetic surgery if they are younger or older than their partners, according to Dr. Joel Schlessigner, a dermatologist in private practice in Omaha, Neb., and his colleagues.
He presented the results of his study on the "typical" cosmetic surgery patient at the Cosmetic Surgery Forum 2010 in Las Vegas.
I love this study not only because of the interesting results - cougars and trophy wives are the top cosmetic surgery patients - but because Dr. Schlessinger's colleagues were his son, Daniel, and his father, Bernard Schelssinger, Ph.D.
Even more remarkable, Daniel is only 16 years old. He is a senior at Millard North High School in Omaha, and is following in his father's medical footsteps.
I had the pleasure to meet Daniel at the meeting, and was truly blown away with how polite, intelligent, and articulate he was. I believe he has a very promising future in medicine. And I can guarantee you this won't be the last time you see this young man's name attached to medical research.
I could go on about Daniel all day, but back to the study ...
So what did they find: Women that are older or younger than their partners are more likely to undergo cosmetic surgery than women the same age as their partners, according to the results of their single-center survey (J. Clin. Aesthet. Dermatol. 2010;3:30-5).
While many assumptions have been made about the "typical cosmetic surgery patient," their study set out to prospectively identify this group, they noted. Their survey was first to study "the actual demographics of cosmetic surgery patients in a prospective manner."
They distributed 400 anonymous surveys, which were completed by 336 patients. The study found that the "typical" cosmetic surgery patient was married (68%), college educated (67%), employed (74%), and a mother (75%).
Women undergoing treatment were educated and employed to a higher extent when compared with 2008 census data. Marriage and motherhood findings among women undergoing treatment were comparable to Census data norms.
And now to the interesting findings - 22% of women in the study were older than their partners (the cougars), compared with 15% overall in the U.S. The women were 6 years older than their partners on average.
A whopping 50% of women that received fillers were older than their partners.
(I wonder if Ashton knows Demi's secret?)
And what about those trophy wives? Of the women in the study, 62% were younger than their partner, compared with 53% overall in the U.S. Study patients were, on average, 5 years younger.
"These data can be used to educate physicians about prospective clients and marketing strategies for these clients," concluded the study authors.
Study limitations were that the data showed trends of only one cosmetic surgery practice in a single location; therefore, study author, Daniel Schlessinger, said in an interview that he hopes to conduct a national, multicenter follow-up study.
Dr. Schlessinger disclosed being a researcher for Medicis, Allergan, Merz, and Mentor.
-Amy Pfeiffer
Disclosures: I am a "trophy wife," my partner is 14 years older than me.