Ethnic Plastic Surgery in New York

There seems to be a common belief that ethnic plastic surgery is primarily used as a way for someone of a minority group to “Westernize” their look, or to look more white. This, however, appears to be a misconception, as it is not always the motivation behind having the procedure. In fact, most clients and surgeons, seem to believe that is rarely the goal. Practitioners and recipients insist that ethnic plastic surgery is not about looking white. 

The demand for surgical enhancement has, however, been exploding around the world. New York has developed many niche markets that allow their many immigrants to get work done that is carefully tailored to their cultural preferences and beauty ideals. For example, in a clinic in Upper Manhattan that caters to Dominicans, one of the most popular procedures is an operation to lift women’s buttocks. One of the doctors says, “They all like the curve.” In Flushing, Queens, there are many Chinese patients who want their upturned noses to be flipped down. Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, caters to many Russian women looking to have their breasts enlarged, and in Chinatown many Koreans have their jaw lines slimmed. There are specialized clinics that reshape Asian eyelids, and Latina silhouettes, which does seem to provide some perspective on the aspirations and/or insecurities of immigrants in New York in the 21st century. 

Dr. Kaveh Alizadeh, president of the Long Island Plastic Surgical Group, said “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.” He added, “We are sort of amateur sociologists.” Alizadeh, who is himself an immigrant from Iran, admits that these results can seem like stereotyping rather than science. However, he and many other doctors that work in ethnic communities say that they are able to scan the appointment books and notice trends, such as Egyptians getting face lifts, Italians reshaping their knees, or Iranians getting nose jobs. 

None can question the surge in demand in immigrant neighborhoods. Roughly 750,000 Asians in the U.S. underwent a cosmetic procedure, from surgery to less invasive work such as Botox, in 2009. This is roughly 5% of the Asian population, and more than double the number of 2000. About 1.4 million Latinos had a cosmetic procedure in 2009; almost 3% of that population, and three times the number in 2000. Four percent of whites had cosmetic work in 2009. 

More clinics have opened in immigrant enclaves in New York, and preexisting practices have expanded to keep up with the demand. In some ways, the “extreme makeover” has become a tradition among the city’s immigrants. 

In the early days of plastic surgery, about a century ago, European Jews underwent nose jobs, and Irish immigrants had their ears pinned back in order to look “more American.” Victoria Pitts-Taylor, professor of sociology at Queens College says that “The bulk of those operations were targeted at assimilation issues.” Motivations today appear to be far more varied and complex. People are reshaping themselves more to the tastes and trends of their home culture, rather than striving to fit in a new country. Dr. Jeffrey S. Yager says, “My patients are proud of looking Hispanic.” He has tripled his office size since opening in Washington Heights, a largely Dominican neighborhood in Manhattan, in 1997. “I don’t get the patients who want to obscure their ethnicity,” he says. 

While all of these different offices have a lot in common, their core businesses are very different, as they are catering to different groups. Probably the most popular procedure among Asians is the “double-eyelid surgery,” which creates a crease in the eyelid to make the eye look rounder. 

Although this is hugely popular in many Asian countries, there are some who criticize the operation, saying that it is a throwback to medical procedures that were meant to obscure ethnic features. Many Asian doctors say that it has nothing to do with assimilation, and that it simply has to do with the fact that one trait of beauty is large eyes. Most plastic surgeons do, however, agree that American pop culture has strongly influenced how immigrants and their children think they should look. 

Writer and director Elena Rossini has made a documentary to be released soon called “The Illusionists,” which is a critique of high standard beauty, and explores how Western capitalist influences are bringing men and children and the whole world into this destructive fold, and as well as focusing on the impacts of Western women. It talks about how it separates modern individuals from traditional individuals, based on the surgeries they have or have not had, and the body becomes a gendered, raced, national project. The first four minutes have been released, which you can find with the link to the webpage I will include here, as it has some interesting notions about how “the taking of a Western body” has become linked with the notion of joining globalized culture. 

http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/tag/raceethnicity-beauty/

Ethnic plastic surgery is evidently not always about trying to look more white, or trying to assimilate, but it is also undeniable that American pop culture influences the way that immigrants as well as Americans view their bodies and their faces, and what the “ideal” for beauty might be.


Sources:

1. Dolnick, Sam. "Ethnic Differences Emerge in Plastic Surgery." The New York Times. The New York Times, 18 Feb. 2011. Web. Nov. 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/19/nyregion/19plastic.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0>.

2. "Is Race Plastic? My Trip Into the 'Ethnic Plastic Surgery' Minefield." The Cut. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2014. <http://nymag.com/thecut/2014/07/ethnic-plastic-surgery.html>.

3. "Sociological Images." Sociological Images RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. Nov. 2014. <http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/tag/raceethnicity-beauty/>.

4. "Weekend Reading: "Ethnic Plastic Surgery"; Women, Work, and Race; and More - The New Yorker." The New Yorker. N.p., n.d. Web. Nov. 2014. <http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/weekend-reading-ethnic-plastic-surgery-women-career-race>.