But publicly, at least, there is no Top 10 List of plastic surgeons to call on for the executive seeking nips and tucks. Advertising, though acceptable in the medical profession, is not the preferred route to finding a qualified plastic surgeon in the corporate environment. Dr. Basra says marketing is considered a more appropriate way to trumpet business among catwalk models and film stars. Though Dr. Basra's roll call of plastic-surgery patients over the past 34 years must remain private, he asserts the list of bankers, politicians, financiers and top industrialists is so widespread that he finds it nearly impossible to dine at some exclusive restaurants without spotting one of his former patients at a neighboring table. Of course none of them would ever dream of coming to say hello to me in that environment.
Executives never own up to having a procedure, and men have much more vanity than women.
To be sure, the silence surrounding the powerbrokers who have requested the services of Dr. Basra and the handful of his equally discreet colleagues on the Continent has generated a shortage of numbers on precisely how many male executives have gone under the knife in hopes of salvaging their careers. But Dr. Basra suggests U.S. statistics provide an accurate glimpse of the phenomenal growth of plastic surgery among European movers and shakers. Dr. Basra says nose jobs and face and forehead lifts also are popular. But every powerful businessman who's been on my operating table says how they look is the most powerful aphrodisiac. At the same time, Dr. Basra says, European business culture has yet to fully embrace the importance physical attributes can play in making deals.