Fake boobs out body positivity in says Gold Coast plastic surgeon

In thirty years of working in cosmetic surgery on the Gold Coast Dr Dilip Gahankari has seen it all – and seen a distinct trend in the procedures he’s performed. Here’s why fake boobs are no longer so popular.

In thirty years of working in cosmetic surgery Dr Dilip Gahankari has seen it all, but over that time he has noticed a distinct trend in the procedures he’s performed.

Specialist plastic surgeon at Advanced Aesthetics and adjunct professor at Griffith University Dr Dilip Gahankari says in his many years operating in the Gold Coast he’s noticed a pronounced downturn in ‘boob job’ surgeries.

“In my opinion, extra large sized breasts have sort of gone out of fashion, especially in the Gold Coast,” he said.

“I think that the focus has sort of shifted towards more body shape and size, proportions and contours rather than having some extra enhancement in boobs and things like that, which was particularly more common in women.”

30 year plastic surgeon veteran Dr Dilip Gahankari talks about recent trends in Gold Coast cosmetic surgery. Picture: Glenn Hampson

Dr Gahankari believes that the underlying cause for this is twofold – greater body positivity, combined with a greater focus on health as a whole.

“I personally think that it’s because women are getting more accepting of their bodies, they feel good in how they look and how they feel.

“There is also a lifestyle emphasis, I notice that women and men talk more about healthy living – diet, exercise and lots of supplements.”

More recently particular procedures have been popularised by social media influencers flaunting new looks to their followers.

Gold Coast social media personality Skye Wheatley has been vocal to her 657,000 Instagram followers about the cosmetic work she’s had done, including a recent non-surgical ‘fox’ eye lift.

Dr Gahankari warned trends like these that aren’t well established may compromise prospective patients’ safety.

“Sometimes these procedures are offered which may look very trendy, but they are not the mainstream procedures and they are not always the safest procedures,” he said.

“They’re not offered by most plastic surgeons who are more experienced and qualified, who are more inclined to do the established procedures which pose minimal risks and are without any long-term adverse effects on the patient’s body or face.”

Another trend weighing on the veteran surgeon is the uptake in Australians visiting foreign countries for treatments, often at a fraction of the cost of the equivalent surgery in Australia.

“Just today, I had a patient who had a lipoabdominoplasty done in India and she’s here two months later with at least a couple of litres of fluid in her tummy.”

Dr Gahankari believes a more rounded view of health has contributed to a declined popularity in breast augmentation surgeries. Picture Glenn Hampson

Currently legislation allows for foreign cosmetic surgeries to advertise to Australian markets but prohibits Australian cosmetic surgeons from doing the same.

Dr Gahankari said he’d like to see equal measures taken on the matter so that the Australian medical system doesn’t have to take the brunt of shoddy work being done by foreign surgeries.

“It’s the least they can do.

“The good Australian health system, which is taxpayer funded, has been promoted and used and abused by the overseas companies and hospitals as a sort of ‘you will always be taken care of, fixed back up, if you get complications.’

“We can’t obviously stop people from telling their patients what to do when they come back to Australia, that’s up to them. But at the very least we can stop the advertising by these overseas destination hospitals.”

Originally published as Fake boobs out body positivity in says Gold Coast plastic surgeon