Stiff foreheads and over-plumped lips may be a staple on reality TV shows like “The Real Housewives” and in movies like “The First Wives Club,” but they are not the plastic surgery look desired by working women.
Middle-aged working women are still seeking plastic surgery, but just in order to look their ages and keep up in an increasingly competitive workforce.
“I’m seeing a lot of professional women who are in their 40s and 50s who want to stay competitive in the job force and not be perceived as being too old,” Dr. Sharon Giese, a New York-based plastic surgeon, told ABC News’ Rebecca Jarvis.
“They’re just saying they want to look refreshed [and] they don’t want to look tired,” Giese said. “They don’t want to erase their wrinkles. They just want to soften them.”
One of Dr. Giese’s patients seeking just that look is Suzanne Armstrong, a 47-year-old actress and real estate agent. She goes to Dr. Giese to slow the aging process with injections and peels.
“I like to look natural,” Armstrong said. “It’s OK if I age. It’s OK if I have wrinkles. I just would like to look healthy.”
Joining Armstrong in that desire is Lynette Bosco, a 48-year-old who runs her own market research company and is also a patient of Dr. Giese’s.
“It becomes complicated in the workplace that you get judged by how you look versus what you’re able to do,” Bosco said.
To combat that, Bosco has been getting Botox treatments since the age of 30 to stave off a wrinkled forehead, in particular.
“I don’t have any wrinkles now and I’m 48,” Bosco said.