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11/23/03 - If you've got it (even if a plastic surgeon gave it to you) flaunt it - Surgerynews.net

In the latest fad sweeping the US, cosmetic surgery patients are 'going public' to show off their enhancements, writes Charles Laurence in New York

Amanda Draizin pulled on her black mini-skirt, powdered her brand new nose and prepared to step on to the catwalk for her first "Flaunt It" party.

Next to the proud 16-year-old, her mother Mindy slipped into stiletto heels, glanced at her own new look - her face freshly smoothed with botox injections - and stood up to join her.

Across the hall of the golf course clubhouse in New York's affluent Long Island, Tina Diaz, a 39-year-old mother of four, adjusted her "augmented" D-cup breasts in an uplift brassiere and declared how much she was loving the attention she was suddenly receiving.

This happy trio, and a half-dozen more gathered here, were all recent cosmetic surgery patients making the final adjustments before joining America's latest fad in the pursuit of man-made beauty.

The ballroom at the Bethpage State Park clubhouse, which has hosted the US Open, was filled with families, friends and business colleagues squeezed into the latest outfits, cheering on the "models".

Similar "Flaunt It" parties are being staged across New York, California and Florida, the country's cosmetic surgery hotspots, as customers and their doctors gather in prestigious locations to display the fruits of the enhancements to fellow devotees.

From teenagers to retirees, they show off their new noses, bottoms and breasts, while the surgeons watch the results of their work on display much as designers at the fashion shows.

"It used to be that people would have their surgery, sneak away for three weeks off work 'with the flu' and feel too shy to talk about it," said Dr Stephen Greenberg, whose patients were on parade at Bethpage.

"Now they are proud of it. They can come here and announce, 'We can do this for ourselves - look at us, how good we look'. I don't know if it is healthy, but it is just the way society is. People follow the celebrities. Movie stars no longer hide their surgery, so why should ordinary, real people?"

It is of course a lucrative phenomenon for the likes of Dr Greenberg. Nose, breast and stomach jobs usually start at $5,000 (£2,900); a treatment of botox injections from approximately $1,000; liposuction at $2,000.

Ros Kaufman, who gave her age only as "in my sixties", was revelling in her new catwalk status. "I just love it, these people have come to see me!" said the grandmother and bodybuilder who has complemented her work in the gymnasium with a tummy-tuck, liposuction, upper-eyelid lift and laser surgery to smooth her cheeks.

Dana Caruso, 35, was displaying the results of a botox treatment smoothing away lines on her face, thighs trimmed by liposuction and breasts increased from a modest A-cup to "full-C".

"My husband just loves it," she said. "But I did this for professional reasons, too. You have to look good to compete in business. I sell beauty products, but image is everything in every business now."

Indeed, that was a theme of the evening for people who had invested tens of thousands of dollars not only to boost their confidence and rekindle their love lives but, just as importantly, to give themselves what they regard as a competitive edge in a world obsessed with youth and beauty.

Nor does this just count for women any longer: about a quarter of all "procedures" are performed on men. Steven Carl, 47, had joined the parade, newly confident following surgery that transformed his image of himself from a short, fat entrepreneur into a muscular success story with a full head of hair.

"I am perceived in a different way. When you look good, people want to line up with you," said Mr Carl, who heads the company that operates the clubhouse and is ready to go under the knife next for his chin, neck and "love-handles".

Young Amanda had the most traditional reason for her surgery. Throughout her life, she explained, she had hated the broad bridge and pronounced bump of her natural nose. "The person I would see in the mirror was my nose. At school, kids made fun of me. Now, I love my new nose and I get up in the morning and want to get out there, be someone," she said.

For her next birthday present, she would like liposuction to her hips and thighs. "I'm not skinny enough now, I want my hips done next," she said. Even her mother, an enthusiastic aficionado of cosmetic surgery, says that that decision is still under family review.