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Cosmetic Surgery Goes Ethnic
Even the terminology differs: Whites often disparagingly refer to their "saddlebags" -- fat deposits on the lower hip and upper thigh -- while black and Latina women "never use that word," Rodriguez said. They call them "thighs" and rarely request liposuction there.
Bahman Teimourian of Bethesda, a clinical professor of plastic surgery at Georgetown University School of Medicine, said it behooves surgeons of all races to be knowledgeable about cultural standards.
  Surgeon Monte O. Harris examines Claudia Harrison for nose and chin surgery. Most patients at Cultura Medical Spa are nonwhite. (By Andrea Bruce -- The Washington Post)  
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A chin that might be considered weak by traditional American standards and a candidate for plastic surgery, Teimourian said, is seen as beautiful among people from the Middle East, where a small chin is regarded as a desirable sign of femininity.
Recently Teimourian said he repaired the nose of an African American patient who was unhappy with the "very Caucasian nose" a previous surgeon had given her. Teimourian said he removed some cartilage from behind the woman's ear to reshape her nose to better fit her features.
Moving beyond "Eurocentric" notions of beauty has been integral to Cultura's success and is central to its philosophy, said Harris, 40, a graduate of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine who trained at the University of Michigan.
"Half the world's going to be brown-skinned by 2050," he noted. "We're not going to close our eyes to all those patients."
Similarly, he said, Cultura has been catering to men, who account for about 10 percent of its clients. Many have been sent by wives or girlfriends for "beard management" and treatment of ingrown hairs.
Who's to Know?
Eric Ellerbee, 44, a UPS driver who for years has made regular deliveries to Cultura, is among its male patients.
Last fall, he received complimentary injections of Restalyne, a cosmetic filler, to soften the lines that run from the side of his nose to the corner of his mouth and are among the first signs of facial aging.
"I didn't even tell my wife I'd had it done," said Ellerbee, who lives in Largo. "I wanted to see if she noticed." (She did and was impressed, he said.)
But a 47-year-old African American nurse who lives in Millersville said she would never tell her mother and sisters about the collagen injections, facelift, tummy tuck and breast implants she received from Rodriguez, which cost her $21,000.
"My mother says, 'You look different,' but I would not tell her -- she would not be accepting," said the woman, who did not allow her name to be used. "My husband and children know, and they're fine with it."
Ellerbee said he's so pleased with the results that he keeps "before" and "after" pictures of himself on his cellphone.
"Everyone wants to age gracefully," he said, adding that Restalyne didn't hurt nearly as much as the tattoo he got years earlier.
"If you can do something that would make you look better -- why not?" ·
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