Cosmetics

This fellow runs a cosmetic practice.

He has billboards all over the city. He also advertises in the local papers.

This past weekend our local paper ran a "puff-piece" on him. A local columnist went in to get some cosmetic injections and wrote and article on him. As is often the case, the column started on the front page of the section and continued on to another page. Flipping through the pages to get to the rest of the article, it was impossible not to come across an advertisement for his clinic featuring a picture of his naked wife (with the naughty bits covered up of course).

This fellow and his ads have bothered me for some time.

The main reason is that while I don't know the exact stats; more people apply to medical school than are actually accepted. Therefore in order for him to practise exclusively as a cosmetic "specialist" somebody else didn't get to be a doctor. Now I am sure when he was interviewed for medical school he probably told them that his ambition was to practise cosmetic medicine in a large urban centre and not have to take call or look after sick people. NOT!!!

Secondly, while medical students do pay tuition in the 5 figure range, this apparently covers less than 20% of the cost of their training. So the taxpayers of the province, many of whom no longer have a family doctor paid for his training.

But what about plastic surgeons?

I have the utmost respect for plastic surgeons and not just because I wish they would hire me for one of their private suites. While there are some plastic surgeons who practise exclusively cosmetic surgery, most of them don't. They take time out form making women's boobs bigger to look after burn patients, repair tendons and reconstruct faces. They take call and work nights and weekends unlike Dr. Singh.