Sun, Jul 07, 2002 page12

• The boss man discovers liposuction

  The recession and a harsh job market have prompted increasing numbers of male executives to head to the plastic surgeon's in search of the right lift or tuck that will give them a career edge

  • By Coeli Carr / NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE
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  Several months ago, Greta Van Susteren revealed that she had undergone some plastic surgery before becoming the host of On the Record at the Fox News Channel. Soon after her disclosure, David Letterman, in one of his Late Show monologues, joked that he was going to get a face-lift and head to Fox, too.

  These days, though, instead of just joking about cosmetic surgery, some men in high places are having it done -- and not just out of vanity. In a harsh job market, they think that the appearance of youth and vitality will give them a career edge, so they are heading to the plastic surgeon to remove the puffiness from their eyes or to fix their sagging chins.

  

  Tommy DeMaio, a 62-year-old boutique owner and play producer, had his first cosmetic surgery about 20 years ago. Some men, especially executives, are having cosmetic surgery as they hope the appearance of youth will give them a career boost.

  PHOTO: NY TIMES

  "I did it, not to achieve an end, but a beginning," said Tommy DeMaio, the owner of a women's clothing boutique that bears his name in the Marriott Marquis hotel in Manhattan and a producer of Broadway shows. DeMaio's second cosmetic surgery, a year and a half ago, was inspired by an invitation to attend a wedding in Capri.

  "I didn't like looking at my double chins or the bags under my eyes," he said. Four days after the surgery to correct those problems, he donned a hat and was on his way to the Mediterranean.

  DeMaio had his first cosmetic surgery, on his upper and lower eyelids, about 20 years ago. Eyelid surgery, which addresses drooping or puffy eyelids and bags and circles under the eyes, can be a semipermanent repair, said John Anton, who performed the most recent procedure and practices in Southampton, on Long Island, and in Manhattan. The eyelids may "need little touch-ups" over the years but rarely need to be fully redone, he said.

  DeMaio, 62, says he looks and feels 40. And his professional future was a big factor in his electing these procedures. "I have another 40 years to be successful," he said. "Looking well can bring in more business. And even CEO's are replaced with younger people today."

  Gerald Imber, a plastic surgeon in Manhattan, says that attitude is not unusual among corporate executives or other men in powerful positions. "At the ages of 50, 55, or 60, they see changes in themselves," said Imber, author of For Men Only: Looking Your Best Through Science, Surgery and Common Sense.

  Darrick Antell, a Manhattan plastic surgeon and a spokesman for the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, says men's attitudes toward facial touch-ups have grown more favorable. "Men want to obtain a professional edge and achieve a look that has eluded them, even if they eat healthy and exercise," he said. "You cannot exercise puffy eyelids away."

  Nancy Etcoff, a psychologist and an instructor at Harvard Medical School, says it is not surprising that men "rejuvenate" themselves for business reasons. "There's a premium for beauty in the workplace and a penalty for unattractiveness," said Etcoff, author of Survival of the Prettiest: The Science of Beauty.

  Stephen Worth, the chief executive of Worth & Co, a contracting business in Pipersville, Pennsylvania, underwent cosmetic surgery on his upper and lower eyelids after a friend told him he looked tired all the time. "He'd say, `You look like you're falling asleep,'" said Worth, who was only 40 when he had the surgery five years ago. An exhausted appearance can be disastrous if business colleagues misconstrue it as a lack of interest, he said. After the procedure, he said, people remarked about how good he looked but couldn't put their finger on why.

  Lee Rudnick, president of DBI Media Executive Search in Manhattan, has undergone two operations -- rhinoplasty, often referred to as a nose job, as well as liposuction under his chin and on his abdomen, in 1995, and the removal of some fat pads from his cheeks and the correction of a receding chin line the next year.

  "We're in a competitive environment," said Rudnick, 57. "If you're 50 but look 40, it's a plus." In offices where younger, aggressive managers work closely with older executives who have shed several years through plastic surgery, the generation gap seems to shrink, he said. "You project a different attitude," he said.

  Having too much plastic surgery can have unwanted consequences. Anton, for example, says he often talks men out of certain procedures because "too frequent or excessive facial surgeries, especially around the eyes and forehead, can feminize a man's appearance or make the face look unnatural."

  Even so, more men appear to be heading for the plastic surgeon. Alan Matarasso, a Manhattan plastic surgeon who also teaches at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, says men are more knowledgeable about the procedures than they used to be. "They're becoming aware of the fine nuances -- that the skin hanging over their collar and onto their tie will require a lift, as opposed to just liposuction," he said.

  Worth has already persuaded several men to have plastic surgery, and DeMaio talked a dentist friend with "too many chins" into having corrective surgery. "It took 30 years off," DeMaio said. "It's great that more and more men are getting the guts to do it."
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