It’s no news to you to hear that many Muslim countries over in the Far East treat women as something less than equal citizens. They require them to wear long garments and veils over their faces and refuse to allow them to take part in certain activities that men frequently take part in.
That being the case, it might be a surprise to hear, as I did recently, that plastic surgery is on the rise in Iraq. As those who know me know, a large part of my practice is doing labiaplasty and vaginoplasty. And to be honest, I suspect it might still be a while before Iraq is ready to allow that kind of freedom to their females. But given the explosion in other cosmetic procedures in the now-liberated Iraq, maybe it won’t be as long as one would have thought just a few years ago.
The popularity of cosmetic surgery in Iraq is, of course, driven largely by the new availability of satellite TV. Now, surgeons who had previously been preoccupied with things such as helping those wounded in war are finding more time on their hands for other practics and are assisting both males and females with looking like their favorite celebrities.
It really should not be a surprise. People are people, no matter what country they’re in. And if someone becomes popular among a wide cross-section of the population, then people who like those celebrities want to be like them. That’s precisely what we’re seeing happening in Iraq.
In fact, according to surgeons who have been paying attention, since the arrival of satellite TV in 2003, there have been an ever-incrasing number of patient requests who want to look like celebrities. But their celebrities of choice are usually not Hollywood types. Instead, they’re celebrities from countries such as Egypt and Lebanon.
Mostly, these patients are asking for Botox injections, liposuction or nose jobs, and the requests are coming from both men and women. Recently, breast surgery (for women) has also become more common, but interestingly, they normally ask for a procedure to reduce the size of their breasts, not increase it.
Something else worth noting: According to Iraqi surgeons, the war there has been responsible for improving their surgical practices. They claim their skill level was honed as they were forced to work under severe pressuer in the past, and they developed an incredible ability to repair torn skin and repair amputated limbs.
