Leading Question

>>Less demand for face-lifts and other pricey procedures is causing patient volumes and revenues to sag. With job security fears and uncertainty about the stock market’s impact on 401(k) and other accounts, would-be patients are holding off on expensive voluntary procedures.

"I think a lot of people are frankly afraid to spend money on discretionary things like cosmetic plastic surgery," says Dr. Paul M. Gardner with South Florida Plastic Surgery Center in Bonita Springs.

"We’ve seen a business downturn like the rest of the area has," says the center’s Dr. W.G. Eshbaugh Jr.

Patient volume and revenue dropped by about 30 percent in the third quarter, says Gardner, and he described September and October as dismal. Those percentages are consistent with national trends, doctors say.

Big-ticket items such as high-end facial work are less in demand, partly due to cash-paying retirees who have tightened their spending. Some have opted for less expensive options, such as one face-regeneration procedure instead of a series.

"They’re taking a little longer to get the husbands on board. They’re being more selective about the procedures they’re doing," says Dr. Mark F. Prysi of Prysi Cosmetic Surgery in Naples. "Most of them are still well off; they’re just not as well off as a year ago."

South Florida Plastic Surgery is feeling the impact as a key client group, real estate agents, is hit by the slumping housing market and stock market plunge, says Gardner. He had one such patient cancel plans for facial work when Wall Street plummeted in September.

"The stock market has affected us indirectly in that here’s a patient of mine whose client was burned by the stock market, and because of that, backed out of the sale of a house," he says.