English
"As long as mankind has existed, it has worked on its beauty."
Javier de Benito, Barcelona, Spain's most famous aesthetic surgeon. Interview by Eva Karcher. Excerpt from the book 'Aesthetic Surgery'
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What fascinates you most about being an aesthetic or cosmetic surgeon?
From a very young age, my dream was to become a doctor. I find it satisfying to help people. What fascinates me about my work as a plastic surgeon is that I can endow my patients with a higher quality of life, one they can experience every time they look in the mirror. When they are able to enjoy their appearance, their self-esteem increases and they become more attractive, even seductive. To increase people's overall happiness is the greatest pleasure of my work.
Which areas do you specialize in?
Foremostly aesthetic plastic surgery and breast reconstructions. I also have extensive experience with endoscopic brow lifting, face and neck lifting, blepharoplasty, which tightens the eyelids, and rhinoplasty, which reshapes the nose.
Do you regard yourself as an artist?
Yes. I think that much like an artist, a plastic surgeon needs to have a heightened sensibility for volume, proportions and dimensions. The outcome of an aesthetic surgical procedure is only successful if it is in harmony with the entire body.
What is your concept of beauty?
Beauty is something that causes a pleasant sensation when we see or touch it; our tasting, smelling and hearing faculties may or may not be stimulated. The experience of beauty can be triggered by a painting or a landscape for example, or a face or a body.
In art history, what is your favourite notion of beauty?
Art history has illustrated that the concept of beauty is an ever-evolving one, depending on time, location and also ethnicity. In the Rococo period, women powdered their faces white and men wore silver-colored, curly wigs. In Africa, some natives tattoo their bodies with scars, and nomadic tribes artificially enlarge their lips and earlobes. Women in the Western world get silicone injected into their lips. And just like the Masai pierce their noses and tongues with rings and needles, Europeans pierce all kinds of body parts. As long as mankind has existed, it has worked on its beauty - maybe in an effort to forget its mortality...
Page [1] [2] [3]
Page [1] [2] [3]
What fascinates you most about being an aesthetic or cosmetic surgeon?
From a very young age, my dream was to become a doctor. I find it satisfying to help people. What fascinates me about my work as a plastic surgeon is that I can endow my patients with a higher quality of life, one they can experience every time they look in the mirror. When they are able to enjoy their appearance, their self-esteem increases and they become more attractive, even seductive. To increase people's overall happiness is the greatest pleasure of my work.
Which areas do you specialize in?
Foremostly aesthetic plastic surgery and breast reconstructions. I also have extensive experience with endoscopic brow lifting, face and neck lifting, blepharoplasty, which tightens the eyelids, and rhinoplasty, which reshapes the nose.
Do you regard yourself as an artist?
Yes. I think that much like an artist, a plastic surgeon needs to have a heightened sensibility for volume, proportions and dimensions. The outcome of an aesthetic surgical procedure is only successful if it is in harmony with the entire body.
What is your concept of beauty?
Beauty is something that causes a pleasant sensation when we see or touch it; our tasting, smelling and hearing faculties may or may not be stimulated. The experience of beauty can be triggered by a painting or a landscape for example, or a face or a body.
In art history, what is your favourite notion of beauty?
Art history has illustrated that the concept of beauty is an ever-evolving one, depending on time, location and also ethnicity. In the Rococo period, women powdered their faces white and men wore silver-colored, curly wigs. In Africa, some natives tattoo their bodies with scars, and nomadic tribes artificially enlarge their lips and earlobes. Women in the Western world get silicone injected into their lips. And just like the Masai pierce their noses and tongues with rings and needles, Europeans pierce all kinds of body parts. As long as mankind has existed, it has worked on its beauty - maybe in an effort to forget its mortality...
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Aesthetic Surgery
Hardcover 8.3 x 11.5 in., 440 pages
$ 59.99
$ 59.99
Before and after: the quest for perfection
This patient wanted the contours of her almost boyish body to be rounded - silicone implants have made it possible. (c) Private archive Dr. de Benito