More Elderly Seeking Cosmetic Surgery

Jan. 31 -- Phyllis Porter is a grandmother, but she no longer looks like one. The 80-year-old just got a face-lift and breast implants.

Porter went to Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston for six hours of cosmetic surgery, which also included a chemical peel, eye-lift and lip enlargement. She described it as a freeing experience.

"All my life I did things I was supposed to do," Porter said. "Never had sex until I was married — that's kind of rare nowadays. I always was conventional. I always did what I was supposed to do. Now I'm going to do what I want to do. I've earned the privilege. That's the way I feel."

Dr. Sheldon Sevinor, who has been in practice for 23 years in Boston, has done more than 1,000 breast augmentations, but Porter was his first 80-year-old patient. But she may not be his last. Sevinor believes Porter is part of a "downaging" trend, in which people older than 65 undergo surgery to make them look as young as they feel.

Over 65 Set Seeking Nips and Tucks

Statistics show the number of cosmetic surgery patients over 65 has grown more than 352 percent in the past five years, according to Dr. Richard Erlichman, a member of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.

"As a matter of fact, over the past several years, that has been the largest-growing group of patients by age category," Erlichman said.

There are special precautions doctors must take with older patients.

"Most of these people have medical problems that people in their 30s and 40s don't, including high blood pressure and coronary artery disease," Ehrlichman said. "And those have to be taken into consideration before any type of surgical procedure is performed."

Several doctors agreed that a patient's health is more important than her age when it comes to cosmetic surgery. But the idea of an 80-year-old woman going for cosmetic surgery did raise some doctors' eyebrows.

"Breast implants in an 80-year-old? That's certainly not the norm, and only a very unusual circumstance would justify the procedure in my opinion," said Dr. J. Regan Thomas of the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago.