Simple To Remove “Fifi” From A Wife’s Cool Gaze

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30835, 21 August 1965, Page 5

Simple To Remove “Fifi” From A Wife’s Cool Gaze

(Specially written for “The Press” by

GARRY ARTHUR.)

J I is only the de Gaulles and Du rantes of this world to whom a big nose is a thing of beauty and a joy for ever. Jimmy Durante even claims that his celebrated “snoz” is a definite attraction to women.

But for the rest, an old German proverb still holds good —‘‘l le that has a great nose thinks everybody is speaking of it.” As the proverb suggests, it is often only a delusion of the owner that his nose is a social handicap, but it is a very real problem to him for all that.

Psychologists point to large noses, big ears and other deviations from the usual shapes and sizes as a frequent cause of anti-social and even criminal behaviour —rebellion perhaps against all the other average-shaped noses and ears.

Others may simply become withdrawn and painfully shy, or they may just accept their problem and learn to live with it. Christchurch, like any city, has its share of these sufferers. Lt also has an answer to their problems in the form of skilled plastic surgeons—the renovators of the medical profession. Plastic surgery 7 has progressed to the stage today where it is almost an art form. With a mixture of sculpture and cleverly dis-

guised snipping, stitching and j grafting, the plastic surgeons | working in Christchurch are daily remodelling the features and bodies of patients from all over the South Island. Undoubtedly, many persons I who have bodily faults which 1 they would secretly like to have corrected are not aware i that such things can be done 1 • —or that most operations of ] the kind involve only a few i days or weeks in hospital at i costs within the reach of the I average pocket. 1 Noses of odd shapes and sizes make up most of the cosmetic surgeon's work. As the centre-piece of the face—and about the only feature the owner can see without looking in a mirror—the nose, if misshapen, is the thing most often considered unsightly. Much of the nose is gristle, so the surgeon has wide scope for addit.cn or subtraction. If the nose has a large hump in !>, the bony scaffold is reduced in size; if it is collapsed with a concave curve in it, gristle is added to build it up: if it is long and pointed, the tip is removed. Most operations are done through the inside of the nose, so there are no scars. The skin takes up, and the only after-effect is' a bit of

swelling and bruising around , the eyes. Face-lifts are another com-' mon operation in cosmetic surgery. There is not the large demand that exists overseas, ■ because there are few women | —such as actresses and top ! female executives whose youthful faces are, literally, i their fortunes. I But some are done in ' Christchurch to slow the ageI ing process. The tiny scars . which are left behind are hidden in the hair and around the ear, and the patient is made to look between five and 10 years younger. The operation tightens up the sags and

l wrinkles of the neck, cheeks, I forehead and chin. I Not only women have their faces lifted. One Christchurch patient was a wrinkled airline pilot who thought his passengers considered him too old to be flying them around. Everyone knows someone whose ears stick out—an easy target for schoolboy humour. It is not true that this condition results from sleeping on a folded-over ear as a baby. It is just a malformation. and, fortunately, it is

, one that is easily remedied by [the plastic surgeon. ! The cartilage is simply turned back, with most satisfactory results. The scar is behind the ear, which is then back in a position to hide it. They can make new ears, too, for those who were born without them or lost them by accident. Gristle is taken from the chest and skin from the neck, and the patient acquires a quite acceptable ear. In some cases the new ear is made of plastic. Those who have ears which they consider too big can have them made smaller. In cosmetic surgery on the

eyes, droopy eyelids are raised by shortening the muscle or by adding tissue to the lid to hold it up. New eyelids can be made for those without them, and bags under the eyes can be taken up. Even eyebrows do not stump the cosmetic surgeon. If a patient has no eyebrows for one reason or another, new ones can be made by grafting a suitable piece of scalp in the right position. Perhaps the most spectacular type of cosmetic surgery

is that done on the jaw. Plastic surgeons and dental surgeons co-operate to bring receding chins forward and to swing lantern jaws back. This is often done by adding <r subtracting bone at strategic points on the jaw, working inside the mouth and leaving no scars.

Repairs to hare-lips are a well-known art of the plastic surgeon, and this is usually done when a baby is three months old. Methods are different today from those used 30 years ago, and the results are better.

Jayne Mansfield, with her majestic proportions, has triumphed over what many other women consider an adversity. When their bosoms get too massive, they too take a trip to the cosmetic surgeon. Bulging Stomachs Breasts with too much sag and too much size can be lifted up and reduced. Results are good, and the surgeons say most women seem very grateful. Breasts can be built up too, but there is little demand for that in these days of cunningly designed corsetry. Bulging stomachs come within the plastic surgeon’s scope. Most patients with this problem are women, and usually they have dieted away most of their weight, leaving an unfortunate “apron” of fat and skin. This can be removed. Unsightly scars are another problem. They are thick operation scars or dirty scars from accidents. These are skilfully reduced to fine-line scars that are practically invisible, hidden in the. natural lines of the skin.

Smaller operations involve the removal of moles, skin blemishes, birth-marks, and skin tumours. Skin-grafting for burns also leaves ugly scars the cosmetic surgeon can remove.

Occasional callers are those who have succumbed to the temptation to have their skin tattooed —and lived to regret it. “I Love Fifi” —or something many times worse—may seem a fine thing to have emblazoned in 4in capitals on the torso after a good party in Singapore, but it palls a bit under the cold eye of a wife back home in Christchurch.

The whole of the skin in the area of the tattoo has to be removed and replaced with a skin graft. The patient leaves hospital with a wry smile and a new appreciation of the many repairs and changes that can be made to the human frame.