Only looks matter for the Mumbai woman

Forty-three-old Briton Cynthia Ronald (name changed) wanted a perfect body. But she wanted it at a reasonable price. So last week, she flew down to Mumbai and underwent a blepharoplasty (surgery for heavy eyelids), breast implants and a tummy tuck, all in a matter of just a few days.
Ronald was a medical tourist, but there are a growing number of Mumbaikars who don't mind going under the scalpel - more than once - to look good.Take the case of Supriya Karnik (name changed) who wanted to look good for the festive season. So she chose botox as well as dermal fillers to last her for a good three months. Said south Mumbai dermatologist Dr Satish Bhatia, "It is not just film stars or the upper-crust people who seek cosmetic surgeries. More and more middle-class people are turning to technology to looking good.''
Consider Geeta Krishnan (35), a government employee who has been attracting compliments for drastically losing weight. A year ago, she had a pear-shaped body, with a heavy lower half. Liposuction on her thighs, hips and buttocks gave her that perfect body she so craved. "I had become a laughing stock in my social circuit and my husband kept saying how fat I was. I could not wait for months to lose weight by exercising and dieting. So I went to a cosmeticsurgeon. After just one consultation session he decided I was a good candidate for liposuction. Three months after a little fat was removed from my problem areas, I had lost 14 kg. Of course, I underwent a good exercise regime too, but I have maintained this figure for a year now,'' said Geeta.
Then there are the extra thin who are ready to loosen their pockets for some added love handles, say doctors. "A girl weighing 40 kg once came to me, wanting a little fat to be put in her hips to give them a proper shape. Most women today want to have a perfectly curved body with perfect love handles,'' said Dr Viral Desai, cosmetic surgeon with Lilavati Hospital in Bandra.
Liposuction along with hair replacement surgeries are the rage. "About 70% of all the people who come to us either seek liposuction or hair replacement surgeries. Nose surgeries and breast implant are also hot among youngsters today,'' he added.
Reena Mali, a 26-year-old software engineer, got a nose job done a few months before she was going to get married. "From childhood, my nose was quite big in comparison to my face. Even though my fiance did not have a problem with my nose, I realised my wedding wouldn't be a perfect one if the bride herself was not perfect. I had started saving money for the nose surgery as soon as I had started working. My dad also helped a bit financially. Ultimately, people saw a perfectly beautiful bride in my wedding,'' said Reena.
"It is not very difficult to shake someone's confidence. Once that is done, people go to any extent to get a rectification of a body part they feel is not proportionate,'' said Dr Ajay Hariyani, who has a cosmetic surgery clinic in Borivli.A group that needs special handling is men with gynecomastia or enlarged breasts. "A lot of them are teased by others and it becomes quite a psychological along with the physical problem for them,'' said Dr Hariyani.
However, the doctors add in a word of caution for those who feel the need to get surgical help for their bodies. "We do not operate on everyone who comes in. We have to explain to many people that a surgery might not be the answer to all their body problems and many surgeries might have more complications than the desired effects,'' said Dr Timbrewala, cosmetic surgeon with Hinduja Hospital.