Plastic Surgery As A Prize Creates Deep Worry Lines

As a special holiday-season promotion, the first 200 people who lined up outside the trendy Chicago nightclub Reserve on a recent frigid weeknight received $500 off liposuction or breast-augmentation surgeries from a local cosmetic-surgery practice.

In some ways, the pretentious dance club was the perfect place to randomly peddle surgeries that aren't medically necessary. The use of cosmetic surgery, which has become more affordable for the masses in recent years, is skewing toward a younger demographic. And inside crowded, deafening hot spots like Reserve, visible first impressions are really all that matters.

But in the wake of increasing demand for cosmetic surgery by both men and women, physicians have started offering discounts or trying other aggressive marketing incentives. Cut rates, early-bird specials, gift certificates and contests now make a serious medical procedure such as liposuction look like the sale of a handbag.

This raises ethical and safety concerns... (read more)...