Nigerians’ mad rush for cosmetic surgery
“Most of the people that come in here to inquire about the services are mostly women and surprisingly men are not left out in this trend as they also do come to either have tummy tucks or breast reduction which they find embarrassing to them,” says Dr. Mathew C. Lekan, a surgeon who runs a […]
“Most of the people that come in here to inquire about the services are mostly women and surprisingly men are not left out in this trend as they also do come to either have tummy tucks or breast reduction which they find embarrassing to them,” says Dr. Mathew C. Lekan, a surgeon who runs a private hospital in Abuja, another city which is a natural rival to Lagos and looks set to become the next destination for those willing to go under the knife to look beautiful. “The women who come here mostly inquire about facials, tummy tuck, breast enlargement and reduction, vaginal tightening and sometimes the whole body overhauling,” he adds. Abuja’s clinics, unlike Lagos’, tend to operate ‘secret clinics’ from within established hospitals. Secret – not because the activity is illicit – but because recipients of plastic surgery procedures are not comfortable enough to be associated with their indulgences.
The procedures come in different forms and require highly challenging medical skills and techniques, which with the rise in people’s demand for plastic surgery is becoming highly complicated and dangerous in some cases. But the promoters of the procedure dismiss its potential danger and downplay the medical implications. “These people have a problem and it is only by this surgery that they can get to live a normal life,” says Dr. Paul Ejike, a plastic surgeon defending the procedure. “It is by definition a surgery of choice and we do not take the risk to perform it on people who already have significant health risk.”
But not all medical practitioners believe one should go under the knife just to enhance that feel-good feeling which propels most of those seeking the procedure. “Plastic surgery involves a lot of risk and should be thought about wisely,” says Dr. Lekan. “It is only in the case of where it has to be done to save a life that it is really necessary but if it is to enhance looks then it is really not worth the risk because you can never rule out complications in such surgeries because what might be okay for someone else might be a danger for another.”
High cost not a deterrence
The procedures do not come cheap and cost a lot of money. According to a staff of Quincy Herbal Slimmers in Lagos, who did not want her name in print, “for a woman to do breast enhancement she would have to pay a consultation fee of N2, 500 (consultation could be thrice in a week) and thereafter pay a treatment fee, which could be up to ten of thousands of naira, depending on the treatment given.” This is the treatment in the low-end range. In the high-end range, treatment is for the well-to-do. Says Dr. Lekan: “In those days tummy tucks were strictly for the rich but now more and more people are willing to save up money for years to undergo the surgery. The minimum price for having a standard procedure done ranges from the sum of N250,000 and when it involves facials, extensive tummy tucks and the whole body overhauling, prices range from $20,000- $ 45,000 and it could be more depending on your body system for tummy tucks. It is this expensive sometimes because we do bring in other plastic surgeons from outside the country whenever we have surgeries to carry out. It does not just stop there as even after the surgery you still spend money for drugs to make sure that your body system is not infected. It is very complex and, if I must say, a risky surgery to perform which takes at least 8-15 hours depending on the type of surgery the person is undergoing.”
Not yet standard practice
As a beauty fad, plastic surgery is basically in its infancy in Nigeria. What this means is the procedure is not yet a standard practice in the country and practitioners lack the sophistication in skills and technique required to carry out the procedure and monitor patient’s health after treatment. Even in countries with skilled practitioners and more highly developed healthcare systems, there have been known to be casualties after the procedure was carried out on them, just like Nigeria’s former First Lady, Stella Obasanjo lost her life in Spain after complications resulting from a tummy tuck procedure (see accompanying sidebar on next page). “Plastic surgery is not a standard practice in the country,” says Dr. Lekan. However, Nigerians with the cash opt for medical tourism, going to locations in Spain, Malaysia, India, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and Egypt to undergo the procedure.
No body part is sacred
Plastic surgery procedures could be carried out on just about any body part. The eyes, the nose, the ears, the mouth, the skin, the hips and the penis and vagina are now good candidates for the surgeon’s knife who seeks to modify, artificially, what nature has endowed his clients with. Giant pharmaceutical companies in the world, sensing a ready market that could fetch in fortunes have been deploying huge sums to come up with more sophisticated drugs that could enhance the procedure. The result has been the discovery of silicon injections as an alternative to cosmetic surgery, which is on the rise. But sophisticated does not mean safe. The American Food and Drug Administration have declared its usage illegal and in March the New York Times reported the case of one Ms. Fiordaliza Pichardo who died a day after receiving an injection. The drug is hard to detect through x-rays or CT scans and often doctors are at a loss about the causes of death when patients are injected. The injections are readily available in places like salons where women get an injection to firm up their buttocks.
The concern for Nigeria is that with a rising interest in cosmetic surgery in the country the use of injections and creams that could act as cheaper alternatives could be embraced like wild fire. In fact, nonsurgical procedures have been touted as the biggest growth area for cosmetic treatments. The success of Botox, a botolinium toxin that works by numbing and relaxing facial muscles that cause wrinkles has seen giant pharmaceutical companies competing to come up with their own versions of the drug.
Africa’s growing global, cosmetic growth
Africa is a potential market and Nigeria is one of the biggest in the continent. How this new trend will play out and the challenges it would pose for the health sector in the country is something that only time will tell.
“I would not recommend anyone having cosmetic surgery being done on themselves just like that because they wants to look under-sixteen,” says Dr. Lekan. “Exercise and a balanced diet is the ideal deal, unless he or she really needs one, but with the media people propagating figures of slim women and girls and baby-like figures, every woman wants to look young and slender regardless of her age.”
Lekan concluded with: “But I must say that cosmetic surgery can never be an easy or risk-free venture even if the patient can afford the best treatment and after care.” The question is whether the new merchants of beauty, like Lekan, will preach that message or treat it as a passing trend.