Do You Have Any of These Noses in a Smaller Size? : Cosmetic surgery: Mall shop dispenses free information on everything from injectable collagen to buttocks implants.
A storefront in a shopping mall to market cosmetic surgery: It probably had to happen sooner or later. It probably even had to happen in Southern California first.
Cosmetic Procedures Information, the inspiration of West Hollywood plastic surgeon Richard Ellenbogen, has been raising shoppers’ eyebrows--non-surgically, of course--at Santa Monica Place since October.
Wedged between a shoe store and a clothing store and decorated with before-and-after pictures of post-liposuction thighs, augmented breasts and surgically lifted eyelids, the shop dispenses free information on everything from injectable collagen to buttocks implants. It also provides ample proof that cosmetic surgery isn’t just for the rich and famous anymore.
“Nobody wants to get old,” Ellenbogen said, adding that he came up with the idea for the office when he visited an information outlet for storm windows at another mall.
Looking for a way to reach prospective patients too busy for a regular consultation, Ellenbogen decided that a shopping mall--the “downtown of America”--would provide a perfect setting, especially as cosmetic procedures have become more widely accepted and increasingly affordable.
He describes it as a form of shopping by catalogue, and he says public response has been so favorable that he’s already looking into the possibility of expanding to other malls in the area.
Not everyone in the medical community is so enthusiastic. Many doctors still find it difficult to accept the idea of mass marketed medicine, despite a landmark 1982 order by the Federal Trade Commission prohibiting the nation’s most powerful medical lobby--the American Medical Assn.--from restricting truthful, non-deceptive advertising by physicians.
“I hate to see a situation when we begin to advertise and promote in malls,” said Mitchell Karlin, an oncologic surgeon in Beverly Hills and a member of the AMA’s Council on Scientific Affairs.
Karlin lamented the demise of old school professionals, whose successful practices evolved on the strength of reputation, referrals and years of proven results. He also cautioned that, although the surgeons represented at Santa Monica Place may be excellent, there’s no way to guarantee the same for the next group of doctors who set up a similar store in another shopping mall.
Others, however, say there’s evidence that Ellenbogen’s idea is one whose time has come.
Joe Wood, a spokesman for the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons, based in Arlington Heights, Ill., said “a lot of people don’t know where to look” for information on cosmetic procedures and other medical information.
“It sounds very convenient and accessible,” he said of the Santa Monica store.
Contrary to the suspicions of some passersby, no medical work is performed on-site. The back room is for lectures and presentations only.
Instead, Ellenbogen and his partners in the endeavor--cosmetic dentist Cary Schwartz and cosmetic surgeon Eric Lewis, both of Beverly Hills--all remain at their respective practices while a staff of attendants run the mall office.
Prohibited by law from providing medical advice, the attendants answer basic questions about surgical procedures, quote standard prices, hand out brochures, show informational videos, refer interested patrons to the appropriate doctor and just let customers browse. At this store, browsing can include scrutinizing a teeth-bleaching mold or handling two styles of silicone gel-filled breast implants (textured and smooth) on display.
The breast implants are informational only. A year ago, Ellenbogen stopped using silicone-filled implants on his patients in favor of saline solution-filled models.
Store manager Tamar Davis said that in the several weeks since problems associated with the silicone-filled implants have been in the news, several people a day have been stopping by to ask questions about breast implants. The federal government earlier this month asked physicians to voluntarily stop implanting them during a 90-day moratorium.
It’s all part of creating a better-informed patient, said Ellenbogen. He added that a major advantage of the store is that, by the time the clients arrive at his office, they tend to be less nervous and more knowledgeable about the procedure in question.
“We’re getting a better class of patient,” he said.
Santa Monica Place officials also seem pleased with the store, despite a few early reservations about the concept, which was rejected by the Beverly Center mall.
Robin Faulk, manager of sales and marketing for Santa Monica Place, said he was initially “fascinated by the concept” but a bit leery of what he described as “such an oddball type of request.” The mall wound up granting a “temporary lease” of 16 months, enough time to test the idea.
“They made it a beautiful store,” said Faulk, adding that the facility has “created a little buzz” among many of the 10,000 or so patrons who pass through the mall daily.
“From a strategy standpoint, these doctors were very smart, because if you want to reach people, a shopping mall is the place to do it,” he said.
Donald Pendley of the International Council of Shopping Centers in New York, said the store reflects a growing trend toward more diversified uses in malls that began with the advent of food courts in the early ‘70s.
More recently, theme parks, major public libraries and even a sports museum (in a Cambridge, Mass., mall) have been incorporated into shopping complexes.
The intent, says Pendley, is to encourage more and longer visits to malls, but he cautions that any non-traditional use must be consistent with the image the mall is seeking to project.
A Beverly Center official said Ellenbogen’s request had been rejected because of heavy demand for space from conventional retailers and the desire of mall officials to stress retailing overall.
“We have no appropriate space for those types of uses,” at least at Beverly Center, said John Ranoha, vice president of leasing for the Taubman Co., which owns and operates 20 regional malls across the United States.
But at Santa Monica Place, where tourists and beach-lovers round out a more casual crowd, the store seems to fit.
For a young television comedy writer who stopped in the store on a recent Sunday--a 23-year-old ex-New Yorker who asked that he be identified only as Michael--it provided a chance to discuss a highly sensitive area: his nose.
“I never liked my nose,” he confided to Donna Jett, one of two attendants on hand.
Jett was understanding.
“People who care about their looks care about themselves--not the other way around,” she said, proudly displaying her own porcelain veneer-coated teeth and permanently tattooed eyebrows. What Jett or the other attendants will not do is assess someone’s personal appearance. A big nose, cauliflower ears, a soft jawline or a bald spot, they insist, are only problems if they bother the person.
Many of the inquiries at the store tend to reflect Southern California’s obsession with achieving the perfect look, but they tend to relate more to employability than vanity.
Jett said an aerobics instructor recently stopped in to ask about liposuction, and an “extremely good-looking” actor was in the store complaining that his large nose was causing him to be pigeonholed into tough guy roles.
On this particular afternoon, Chae Chang, 22, a model, dropped in to inquire about rhinoplasty--a nose job.
“I would have gotten bigger (modeling) jobs if my nose was higher,” he said.
Most shoppers who encounter the store react to it with a mixture of bemused curiosity and mild trepidation.
The majority loiter briefly at the entrance before flitting away with a chuckle. Some go as far as to enter, then have a change of heart and rush out without a word.
When the store is empty, it tends to stay that way, the attendants said.
“They tend to think it’s a doctor’s office, and it scares people away,” said store manager Davis.
Eventually, though, some adventurous soul enters, and others usually follow. Before long a spirited repartee can build as clientele swap jokes and horror stories about flat chests, botched nose jobs and thin lips.
“I need these!” Niki Hostetler exclaimed as she seized the for-display-only silicone breast implants.
But her exuberance turned to disappointment when Jett informed her that the mall store does not provide on-site computer imaging, which gives patients a chance to see what they will look like before a procedure is actually performed.
“I thought I was going to see myself with a real chest,” sighed Hostetler.
“So did I,” deadpanned her boyfriend, Chad Greulach.
