Happy New Year: The Busiest Season for Cosmetic Surgery

Beauty takes no holiday.

December, particularly the latter half, is the busiest time of the year for many plastic surgeons, cosmetic dermatologists and doctors who perform weight-loss operations like gastric bypass. Some doctors say they do twice as many of these elective procedures per day in this period as during the rest of the year.

The reason: After many cosmetic procedures patients want to go underground during the days-long recovery period, which might involve swelling, bruising and oozing. The holiday season makes it easier to avoid interacting with others at work or in school car pools. This year, with Christmas and New Year’s both falling on weekends, a patient can be under the knife or laser beams early in the week and still be presentable by the time the parties start.

It’s the busiest week of the year for plastic surgeons, with many patients opting for Fraxel, which promises to make patients look younger by removing freckles and dark spots with a laser. “People like to hide out while they heal,” says Debra Jaliman, a dermatologist in New York City. This week, Dr. Jaliman says she is scheduled to perform 15 Fraxel procedures, a laser process meant to leave the skin looking younger. Normally she does five a week.

Traci Slatton, a 48-year-old writer in New York, scheduled an appointment with Dr. Jaliman for Tuesday to have a Fraxel treatment that can leave one’s skin swollen, red and scabby for four or five days. She wants to look great for a March event to celebrate the publication of “The Art of Life,” the book she wrote with her husband, the sculptor Sabin Howard, about the role of beauty in art.

Read the Full Article at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203899504577126563699510178.html?mod=WSJ_LifeStyle_Lifestyle_6

Source:  by Katherine Rosman for the Wall Street Journal, December 29, 2011 at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203899504577126563699510178.html?mod=WSJ_LifeStyle_Lifestyle_6