Fw: Implants free for Brazil's poor ~ Government picks up tabs for cosmetic surgery

[Guest guest]

From: " ilena rose " <ilena@...>

Sent: Sunday, April 29, 2001 8:46 PM

Subject: Implants free for Brazil's poor ~ Government picks up tabs for

cosmetic surgery

> ~~~ thanks to pan for the heads up on this. i'm sure the Brazilian Plastic

> Surgeons' PR agents will be getting bonuses for this idea. Another Burson

> Marsteller (and team) success story.

>

> " " I think our standard of beauty is changing, " said implant-seeker

Perreira

> de Souza. "

>

> wonder which " free " implants the women get? the brand " new and improved "

> ... if there is such a thing, or ... ? ? ?

>

> wonder if the surgery will be free to remove or replace them?

>

> Ilena ~~~

>

> http://signonsandiego.com/news/uniontrib/sun/index.html

>

> Implants free for Brazil's poor

>

> Government picks up tabs for cosmetic surgery

>

>

> By G. Hall

> KNIGHT RIDDER NEWS SERVICE

>

> April 29, 2001

>

>

>

> RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- For decades, Selma Perreira de Souza dreamed of

> having larger breasts. But she is a poor housewife in the Bom Sucesso

> slum, and silicone breast implants were a luxury for the rich.

>

> Then last year the government-run Clementino Fraga Filho University

> Hospital began offering free and reduced-cost cosmetic surgery for

> low-income people. Perreira de Souza, 49, had corrective eyelid surgery

> this year and now is shooting for free breast enlargements.

>

> " I have a complex; I think they are very small. I don't want giant ones --

> about a size 44 would be fantastic, " she joked. A remark from her husband

> motivates her. " He says I'm old, and that I am finished. I'll show him! "

>

> The idea of poor people getting government-subsidized breast implants may

> seem odd in a country where millions clamor for $150 a month minimum-wage

> jobs. But the hospital's program enables even the poor to take part in

> Brazil's national pastime: body worship.

>

> In Rio de Janeiro, it is rare to see overweight people. Deza Mattos,

> 48, the mother of two teens and quite shapely by U.S. standards, feels fat

> in a bikini. She's " not nervous, just anxious " about her upcoming

> liposuction and tummy tuck. The discounted bill comes to $750. Similar

> procedures at Brazil's private clinics average $2,000 to $3,000.

>

> Although 90 percent of the population earns less than $8,000 a year,

> Brazil is second only to the United States in the number of plastic

> surgeons -- 3,200 vs. 6,100 -- and the two countries vie for the most

> cosmetic surgeries per capita.

>

> U.S. plastic surgeons offer lots of free and subsidized care, but it is

> for reconstructive surgery for accident victims and people with birth

> defects rather than cosmetic improvements, said Theresa Hill, media

> relations manager for the American Society of Plastic Surgeons in

> Arlington Heights, Ill.

>

> " It doesn't matter if you are poor, rich or middle class. Plastic surgery

> is something we want, " said Roseane Nagib, a Brazilian transport executive

> who's considering a face lift. She had breast-reduction surgery in the

> 1980s when the ideal of Brazilian beauty was small breasts and a large

> posterior.

>

> Large rear ends remain beauty's hallmark here, and buttocks implants are

> still a leading form of plastic surgery, according to the Brazilian

> Plastic Surgery Society. In the past year, two tunes -- " What a Big Butt "

> and " Blonde Big Butt " -- were big radio hits.

>

> Globalization is bringing change, however. Thanks to foreign TV and

> videos, more Brazilian women are seeking breast augmentation. Popular

> magazines such as Caras (People) and Chiques e Famosos (The Chic and

> Famous) run articles almost weekly on a celebrity or socialite showing off

> her new breast implants.

>

> " I think our standard of beauty is changing, " said implant-seeker Perreira

> de Souza.

>

> Amancio ino de Carvalho, the director general of the state hospital

> that is providing Perreira de Souza's implants, said offering subsidized

> cosmetic surgery helps the hospital train future doctors.

>

> " Demand has grown immensely, " he added. " Low-income people save for this. "

>

> Plastic surgery became a topic of dinner table debate in March after

> na Borges, Brazil's contestant in the Miss Universe contest, told

> reporters she had undergone four surgeries and 19 outpatient procedures.

> Borges, 22, did not break any official rules.

>

> Her disclosure was no slip-up: Borges' plastic surgeon had sculpted her

> for free, on the condition that she promote his clinic in interviews.

>

> In time, nine of the 27 Miss Brazil finalists admitted they had been

> surgically enhanced.

>

> " If all the girls have to get plastic surgery, it will become a contest

> for the elite, because most girls don't have the financial wherewithal to

> have surgery, " fretted Priscila Andrade, 19, Brazil's representative in

> the Miss World contest, who boasts of having had no surgery. " A beauty

> contest must be about natural beauty. "

>

> In Brazil, maybe not.

>

>