Reply #34: I'm Not Talking About People With Genuine Medical Difficulties [View All]

[NashVegas]

I'm talking about people who obtain unnecessary medical procedures for cosmetic reasons. Some of whom manage to get their insurance company to foot the bill.

injectionPatients may be cutting back on some treatments amid the recession, but they’re not letting slimmer pocketbooks take their Botox away from them.

“It’s like comfort food,” says Maralyn Burr of Omaha, Neb., who in June lost her job as a district sales manager for Borders bookstores. With $140,000 in debt from her 22-year-old daughter’s musical education, Burr told the WSJ she’s slashed spending and all but stopped eating out. But she hasn’t given up her Restylane and Botox injections.

She’s not alone. Nearly three-quarters of plastic surgeons responding to a survey this fall said demand has increased or held steady for minimally invasive procedures, including the Botox anti-wrinkle drug, dermal fillers used to plump up lips and smile lines, and skin-smoothing chemical peels, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. At the same time, the survey found a steep drop in demand for plastic surgeries such as breast augmentation and nose reshaping. (See this post from early this year, which took note of a similar pattern.)

http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/12/23/economy-be-damned-im-getting-my-botox/