Breast implants at 75 might sound unusual but the New York Times reported that there’s an upswing in the number of cosmetic surgeries being done on patients aged 65 or older. While the reason behind getting cosmetic surgery after age 65, such as breast implants at 75, can certainly vary from person to person.
MSNBC reported that 75-year-old Sherri Cook said of her decision to get breast implants, “You know, I always tell my husband that I think older women all end up looking like oatmeal boxes or match sticks. And I don’t want to look like either one of those.”
Dr. Michael Niccole was Sherri’s surgeon and he was quoted by MSNBC discussing the shift in seniors’ surgery choices away from facelifts and toward larger surgeries: “They’re moving on more toward body contouring with breast lifts, tummy tucks.”
Belisa Vranich is a psychologist interviewed by MSNBC for the story and she spoke of how today’s seniors have changed over the last several years: “Our seniors are getting divorced. They’re dating. They’re competing in sports. Why not plastic surgery to go along with how young they feel inside.”
The New York Times reported that researchers at the Cleveland Clinic conducted a study and found that the instance of complications did not chance significantly as age increased from 57.6 to 70. However, James Hughes, executive director of the Hartford, CT-based Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, a nonprofit research group, told the paper, “You know there are biases because of the underreporting of negative findings. The doctors have more or less financial incentives to do these procedures, and that often leads them to understate alternative kinds of treatments or medical advice.” The New York Times reported that Niccole said that anesthesia and healing time could be a factor in how well older patients respond to cosmetic surgery procedures.
