foreign - Laclinic

FOREIGN
BODIES
Meet the international men of medicine. Wendy Lewis goes global
THE FACE
DR JAVIER DE BENITO
Barcelona, Spain
Why fly? The twinkly-eyed Catalan is known
as the Tailor of Barcelona, thanks to his
flawless facelifts and body-contouring work.
Head to the Instituto de Benito for the
Silhouette Lift, a facelift that hoiks up saggy
cheeks with a dissolvable system of threads
that are attached to tiny cones placed under
the fatty tissue of the face. Sounds grisly
but the procedure is, in the grand scheme
of facial surgery, minimally invasive and
patients can return to work within a few
days with nominal swelling and bruising.
The Institute also offers cutting-edge
genomic medicine, which evaluates your
genes to find the preventive 'keys' to living
a healthy, long life.
Who goes? King Fahd of Saudi Arabia is said
to have checked in to have the bags under his
eyes removed. Oil moguls and the wives of
Russian oligarchs jet in on their Gulfstrearns.
How much? Silhouette Lift, from £3,800.
Ring 00 34 93 253 0282 or visit
institutodebenito.eo m.
DRSAMRIZK
New York, USA
Why fly? Rizk is one of New York's hottest
facial surgeons and his number is discreetly
passed around the Upper East Side's smartest
dinner parties. He works out of a slick suite
on Park Avenue that has a hospital-grade
operating theatre and wood-panelled
consulting rooms that give the place the air
of a gentlemen's club rather than a clinic. He
only operates above the neck and is particularly
good at fixing noses. For rhinoplasty he uses
a high-definition 3D telescope to see deep
into facial srructures - this makes for a very
precise hooter. Rizk has also perfected the
Rapid Recovery Necklift, which sculpts the
lower face and jowls to Iman-like standards,
and he is a proponent of stem-cell facelifts
using the patient's own fat.
Who goes? Wall Street tycoons, their wives,
and sweet 16s from Manhattan's most elite
establishments.
How much? Rhinoplasty, from £9,000;
Rapid Recovery N ecklift, from £ 16,000.
Ring 00 I 212 452 3362 or visit drsamrizk.com.
14 Tatler
DR GIOVANNI BOTTI
Salo, Italy
Why fly? Best known for his immaculate
mid-face facelifting, Botti is based at the
Villa Bella Clinic in Italy's lake district
between Milan and Venice (the closest airport
is Verona, 45 minutes away). Here he works
masterfully on the mid-face, using three
different techniques to minimise visible
scarring: cutting through the inside of the
mouth, going through the lower eyelid to
lift muscles or anchoring sagging soft tissues
to the bone structure. Book in early because
Botti's surgery schedule is full for at least
six months in advance. The clinic also
specialises in body contouring and genital
aesthetics, including reduction of the labia
minora and reshaping the pubic area by
removing or adding fat.
Who goes? Milano's first ladies of fashion
swoop in secretly behind huge Dolce &
Gabbana sunglasses.
How much? Mid-facelift, from £5,935.
Ring 00 39 036 541446 or visitvillabella.it.
DR MICHEL PFULG
Montreu.x, Switzerland
Why fly? Pfulg's specialty is minimal scarring
and his approach to facelifts is immaculate
- he measures every face before surgery on the
'golden grid of beauty', a set of mathematical
calculations that tell him how proportionally
balanced a woman's features are. He operates
from Laclinic, a picture-perfect chalet
complete with sculpture gardens and 10
private rooms, with balconies and views
across Lake Geneva. Also on site are a beauty
institute for Carica facials, an aesthetic
dentistry centre and a hair-rransplant clinic.
Pfulg is the man behind Helena Rubinstein's !>
PFULG MEASURES
FACESONTHE
'GOLDEN GRID
OF BEAUTY' TO
TELL HIM HOW
BALANCED THE
FEATURES ARE
Prodigy Re-Plasty range of products, which
replicate the anti-ageing peel protocols of
Laclinic for home use.
Who goes? Chatelaines of Gstaad and St
Moritz, wrinkly rockers and their nubile wives
who often slip in a spot of surgery after the
Montreux Jazz Festival.
How much? All-inclusive Pfulg facelift
with one-night clinic stay, from £13,000.
Ring 00 4121 966 7000 or visit laclinic.ch.
DRPATRICKTONNARD&
DR ALEXIS VERPAELE
Ghent, Belgium
Why fly? The cosmetic surgeon founders of
Coupure Centre for Plastic Surgery have just
set up EMC2 (emctwee.be), an exclusive private
clinic just outside Ghent with only four
bedrooms and an army of round-the-dock
nurses. The boys ftom Belgium are also the
creators of the famous MACS-lift, which lifts
the lower two-thirds of the face through a
small incision in front of th~ ear - muscles
and fat are teased back to their original
position, leaving just a small scar in the fold
of the ear. They often combine this with
eyebrow lifting for the outer portion of a
drooping brow. Tonnard uses fat grafting for
95 per cent of his facelifts, and has developed
a clever method using smaller than usual fat
particles- the results last longer with less
downtime, swelling and lumps.
Who goes? Head honchos at the EU and
not-so-desperate housewives who make
the journey by Eurostar.
How much? MACS-lift, ftom £5,500.
Ring 00 329 269 9494 or visit
coupurecentrum. be.
DR HERVE RASPALDO
Cannes, France
Why fly? Raspaldo is an expert facial surgeon
who is as deft with the needle as the scalpel.
If you don't fancy going under the knife,
head to his clinic on the French Riviera for
a liquid facelift (or Facecul pture as he calls
it), which employs a potent combination of
strategically placed fillers such as Voluma
and Juvederm, along with Botox and Pelleve.
He also does brilliant eyelid rejuvenation
under very light general anaesthetic, and
endoscopic facelifts to lift the upper and
mid-face through tiny cuts placed discreetly
in the temple area and inside the ears. Fly
into Nice and Raspaldo's chauffeur will
collect you from the airport.
Who goes? Rock stars and supermodels
flock to his clinic for subtle injections
before the Monaco Grand Prix and the
Cannes Film Festival.
How much? Faceculpture, from £2,500.
Ring 00 33 4 92 98 65 30 or visit raspaldo.ft.
16 Tatler
THE BODY
DR ALAN MATARASSO
New York, USA
Why fly? Matarasso is the maestro of mummy
makeovers, recreating perky breasts and
washboard abs. His artful tummy tucks are
said to be taut enough to bounce a coin off,
and last for decades. Chuck in a little lipo for
hips and thighs while you're there and you'll
be able to slip into skinny jeans without
breaking a nail or a sweat. He also specialises
in large-volume liposuction that radically
sculpts the body, safely removing up to a
dozen litres of fat in a single session. For faces
he has perfected buccal-fat-pad removaltaking small amounts of fat from inside the
cheeks to accentuate the bone structure. If you
can't get to New York, he also offers virtual
consultations via Skype.
Who goes? According to New York magazine
Julie Christie is a fan. You'll also find reality
TV stars, A-list actors, Grammy winners,
Fortune 500 CEOs and a masthead of beauty
editors in his waiting room.
How much? Large-volume liposuction, from
£20,000, including hospital stay.
Ring 001212 249 7500 or visit
alanmatarassomd. com.
DRJULIO GALLO
Miami, USA
Why fly? The multilingual Gallo offers a
first-class, one-stop shopping experience for a
new body, and it's not just about going under
the knife. His team at the Miami Institute for
Age Management & Intervention includes
breast and body expert Dr Phillip Craft and
nose man Dr Robert Simons, but also a whole
raft of weight-loss experts, beauticians,
psychotherapists and cosmetic dentists.
Treatment of the moment is the Brazilian Butt
Lift, during which stem cell-rich fat from the
tummy is injected into the top part of the
bottom. The result is J.Lo by syringe. The
institute is niftily located in the Four Seasons
hotel, so after a full roster of fat-blasting and
MATARASSO'S
ARTFUL TUMMY
TUCKS ARE SAID TO
BE TAUT ENOUGH
TOBOUNCEACOIN
OFF, AND LAST
FOR DECADES
skin-polishing, you can sneak your perky new
behind back up to your hotel room incognito.
Who goes Latin American socialites,
supermodels and star athletes and their wives.
How much A Brazilian Butt Lift costs
from £4,000.
Ring 00 1 305 624 0009 or visit
miami-institute. com.
DR LUIZ TOLEDO
Dubai, United .Arab Emirates
Why fly? This Brazilian-bern liposuction
pioneer brings his many decades of expertise
in body contouring and facial rejuvenation
to the Middle East. He excels at total body
sculpture, removing fat from portly areas
and injecting it to plump up where needed.
In extreme cases he can drastically reduce
your body weight by five per cent in one
session (that's a couple of dress sizes). Toledo
has consulting rooms at the prestigious
International Modern Hospital, where he
performs surgery as well as working with
facial fillers and laser skin-resurfacing. He
also operates in Riyadh once a month at
the Elyzee Medical Center.
Who goes? British expats, frequent flyers who
tack a visit on the end of a family holiday and
the burka set who want to look good in a
bikini behind the walls of their compounds.
How much? Body sculpting, from £6,000.
Ring 00 971 4 406 3000 or visit
drluiztoledo. eo m.
DR OLIVIER GERBAULT
Paris, France
Why fly? As a protege of the world-class
rhinoplasty surgeon Gilbert Aiach, Gerbault is
very good at noses, as you might expect, but
his less well-documented speciality is breast
enhancement. He's brilliant at repairing
botched breast jobs in a very Parisian way
(translation: not too big or obvious), using
teardrop-shaped silicone-gel breast implants.
Women who come to him will do anything
to avoid a vulgar cleavage so he adds fat grafts
and sometimes Macrolane filler to camouflage
the edges of the implant and steer clear of the
bowling-ball effect. His Policlinique Esthetique
is 20 minutes by train from the Eurostar
terminal, and Gerbault also works at the newly
renovated Ho pi tal Prive Armand Brillard
near his clinic, where patients stay overnight.
Who goes? French screen sirens, hundreds
of referrals from doctors across Europe who
respect his unique expertise.
How much? Breast implants, from £3,800. D
Ring 00 33 1 53 66 30 30 or visit
chir-esthetiquefi:
Wendy Lewis, the Knife Coach, is an
international cosmetic surgery consultant. Ring
001 212 861 6148 or visit knifecoach.com.