Age, thou has not lost thy labour

Facelifts and ?feature enhancement? surgeries are common practice these days. What, however, is interesting is the result of an American Academy of Facial, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery study that analysed this trend.

Facelifts and ‘feature enhancement’ surgeries are common practice these days. What, however, is interesting is the result of an American Academy of Facial, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery study that analysed this trend. The study has found that the prime reason for facial lifts and the desire to ‘look young’ is the boost it gives to flagging careers. And no, the survey was not based in Hollywood. It included lawyers, pilots, business executives and real estate agents. To find an increasing number of men in their 40s and 50s (who are alas, escorted out of the boardroom) opting for Botox treatments is a discovery that makes a poignant point.

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It’s actually quite a neat way to tide over the crisis for employers. Positive attitude sells and performance is but a ‘value-add’. When recruiting, it is a hard act to follow management mandates of hiring people with experience and a spring in their step and a song on their lips. So when a 50-something, who has opted to freeze his age at 28 and possibly put his smile on auto-pilot, waltzes in for a raise, it’s just that much easier to clinch the

increment deal. The practice, apart from giving a whole new spin to the ‘stressed-at-work’ theory, makes it difficult to keep a straight face at the stranger-than-fiction workings of the image-obsessed corporate world. Sceptics (whose professional futures are clearly bleak because, well, they ‘look’ so sceptical) should jettison their extra age and join the circus. Because the study has found links between facelifts and uplift in terms of pay and promotion.