February 21, 2006--Face Off
What’s the cost-benefit of having a face-lift? Not how much does one cost or what is the benefit in how you look—but how much is it worth to get a face lift?
That was at the heart of a recent story in the NY Times (see it linked below).
The Surgery Academy reported that in 2004, the average cost of a face-lift was about $6,500; a brow-lift, $3,400, face and neck liposuction, just $2,300, while Botox injections would have set you back $440 a visit.
The Times reports about a 62 year old woman who purchased a face-lift so as to look younger at work, not just to her ten year younger boyfriend. She is a stock trader at a company where (male) traders typically retire in their 50s, both because they have amassed enough to live well and because they are burnt out. She wants to continue but feels as if she no longer fits in among her crowd of young colleagues. Since she is not ready to retire, to protect her position with the firm, she went for the full lift.
She was not alone in this—the same Academy report claimed that 22 percent of the men and 15 percent of the women who had plastic surgery did so for work-related reasons. With both figures sharply up from previous years.
Some are needing to work many more years than anticipated because their savings and pension systems will not be able to sustain them in early retirement and since often there is considerable unspoken (because it is illegal) age-discrimination. Others seeking promotions realize that age or youthful looks are taken into consideration in promotion decisions thus ante up the $6,500 to go under the knife and emerge with a new face to present to their colleagues and superiors.
And it works, assuming that once you unwrap the bandages you don’t find your skin stretched as tight as Joan Rivers’ and you can no longer smile or talk on the telephone—the latter an occupational hazard for stock brokers. Wendy Lewis, a consultant who advises clients considering cosmetic surgery (there is clearly a consultant for everything), says, “You get something done, you get the promotion.”
Now college professors are getting into the act. Not necessarily the Botox part, (after all they have tenure and can’t be fired for any reason, including putting their students to sleep with their lectures), but they are researching the relationship between attractiveness and success. A study conducted by faculty at the University of Texas and Michigan State University concluded that men and women “with above-average looks receive a pay premium,” while others who, how shall I put this, are unattractive “receive a pay penalty.” Even professors at Harvard have weighed in, claiming that their research reveals that there is a “sizable beauty premium” paid in the corporate world.
I’m headed for Paris in a few days . . .
That was at the heart of a recent story in the NY Times (see it linked below).
The Surgery Academy reported that in 2004, the average cost of a face-lift was about $6,500; a brow-lift, $3,400, face and neck liposuction, just $2,300, while Botox injections would have set you back $440 a visit.
The Times reports about a 62 year old woman who purchased a face-lift so as to look younger at work, not just to her ten year younger boyfriend. She is a stock trader at a company where (male) traders typically retire in their 50s, both because they have amassed enough to live well and because they are burnt out. She wants to continue but feels as if she no longer fits in among her crowd of young colleagues. Since she is not ready to retire, to protect her position with the firm, she went for the full lift.
She was not alone in this—the same Academy report claimed that 22 percent of the men and 15 percent of the women who had plastic surgery did so for work-related reasons. With both figures sharply up from previous years.
Some are needing to work many more years than anticipated because their savings and pension systems will not be able to sustain them in early retirement and since often there is considerable unspoken (because it is illegal) age-discrimination. Others seeking promotions realize that age or youthful looks are taken into consideration in promotion decisions thus ante up the $6,500 to go under the knife and emerge with a new face to present to their colleagues and superiors.
And it works, assuming that once you unwrap the bandages you don’t find your skin stretched as tight as Joan Rivers’ and you can no longer smile or talk on the telephone—the latter an occupational hazard for stock brokers. Wendy Lewis, a consultant who advises clients considering cosmetic surgery (there is clearly a consultant for everything), says, “You get something done, you get the promotion.”
Now college professors are getting into the act. Not necessarily the Botox part, (after all they have tenure and can’t be fired for any reason, including putting their students to sleep with their lectures), but they are researching the relationship between attractiveness and success. A study conducted by faculty at the University of Texas and Michigan State University concluded that men and women “with above-average looks receive a pay premium,” while others who, how shall I put this, are unattractive “receive a pay penalty.” Even professors at Harvard have weighed in, claiming that their research reveals that there is a “sizable beauty premium” paid in the corporate world.
I’m headed for Paris in a few days . . .
posted by Steven Zwerling at
1:21 AM
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