Tuesday, Jun 25, 2013
Dubai: The demand for tummy tucks and liposuction is up in Dubai this summer, according to plastic surgeons, who estimate an overall increase of eight to 30 per cent.
Procedures to shrink the waistline are increasingly popular among both men and women alike, they said.
A tummy tuck or abdominoplasty procedure re-contours and re-shapes unwanted excess fat and sagging skin in the abdomen region. Liposuction removes excess fat from under the skin through suction.
Surgeons aren’t surprised with the demand given the culture of travelling during the summer and reduced parental pressure among mothers due to school holidays. The obesity levels also drive the demand.
Available 2012 figures place the UAE seventh on the Global Fat Scale among 177 countries, calculated using UN data on population size and estimates of global weight from the World Health Organisation (WHO). Figures from WHO peg about 20 per cent of the UAE adult population as overweight or obese.
Speaking to Gulf News on the trend, Dr Luiz Toledo, consultant plastic surgeon at Medical Arts Clinic, Dubai, and member of the American Society of Plastic Surgery (ASPS) and the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS), said that he has performed more abdominoplasty procedures than in his native Brazil.
“Among my clients this summer, tummy tuck procedures have seen an eight per cent increase compared to last summer. The demand for liposuction too has increased by 10 per cent and by 25 per cent for non-invasive procedures such as Botox, fillers, peels and radiofrequency,” he said.
In the past eight years in the emirate, Dr Toledo said he has witnessed a steady demand for tummy tucks. In general he attributes the demand to a combination of factors including obesity, population rise, pregnancy, and awareness of plastic surgery techniques.
The demand is not limited to women, Dr Toledo added. “About 20 per cent of our abdominoplasty patients are men.”
Dr Zuhair Al Fardan, Canadian board-certified plastic and aesthetic surgeon at Medcare, Dubai, and member of the Canadian Plastic Surgery Society, told Gulf News that the number of liposuction procedures are up from last summer.
“It is almost 30 per cent more among my patients compared to last year. Overall cosmetic surgeries have doubled in my practice,” he said.
Dr Al Fardan said that the summer as well as the approaching month of Ramadan fuels the demand. “During school holidays mothers have more time after undergoing abdominoplasty, which requires up to two weeks recovery. Office-goers choose the Ramadan period to avail of fewer working hours [for recovery],” he said.
By Carolina DSouza ?Staff Reporter
Gulf News 2013. All rights reserved.
