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Plastic surgery seeing boom

George Lebeau gave his wife an early Christmas card over dinner last month.

She read his words -- ''for the new you you've always wanted'' -- and was confused.

''A new me? What are you talking about?'' Lauren Lebeau asked.

And then she knew -- the card meant she'd get her long-desired face-lift, a gift that came complete with a scalpel, gauze and painkillers, transforming her 44-year-old face into its taut ideal.

She was ecstatic.

''Oh, my gosh! I couldn't believe it,'' Lebeau said last week, nervous and a bit giddy the night before the procedure. 'I told my husband, `I will always believe in Santa Claus.' ''

It's holiday season in South Florida, and the plastic surgery business is booming. Face-lifts. Breast implants. Nose jobs. Liposuction. Botox injections.

For some, it's a gift -- and the opportunity to recover while off from school or work. For others, it's a tune-up before a family reunion or a New Year's Eve party.

''It's been absolutely crazy as far as volume goes,'' said Randy Miller, a Miami plastic surgeon. ``It's wild.''

Some doctors even offer gift certificates, despite an amendment passed this fall by the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery prohibiting this practice in its code of ethics. The amendment applies to any type of cosmetic procedure -- from Botox injections to breast augmentation.

The doctor needs to know a patient before any procedure can be promised, said Dr. Robert Bernard, the society's president.

''You never want to commit to doing a procedure without seeing a patient,'' said plastic surgeon Michael Kelly, who estimates the caseload at his Kendall office is up about 30 percent.

GIFTS FROM MEN

At the office of Fort Lauderdale plastic surgeon Paul Wigoda, husbands come in and ask for gift certificates to pay for their wives' Botox injections. Often the person receiving the certificate is a regular client, Wigoda said.

Breast implants are a popular option, too. A procedure costs about $5,000.

Stephanie Collins, 24, is a ''fitness competitor,'' and the weight she dropped before competitions melted the fat from her breasts. She had wanted implants for five years. Her boyfriend of a year-and-a-half said he would fund the surgery as a Christmas gift.

Collins had surgery late last month. She was in at 8 a.m., out by 11:30, slept comfortably and can barely see a scar.

In general, Wigoda said, a gift of surgery such as this is something the recipient has long wanted.

''I don't know if anybody would appreciate opening a Christmas gift and seeing $1,000 to get rid of wrinkles,'' said Dr. Mark Nestor, who directs the Center for Cosmetic Enhancement in Aventura. ``A lot of people say they give it to themselves as a holiday gift.''

Doctors often see nonsurgical procedures such as Botox injections timed for holiday parties.

There is also an increasing number of other ''lunchtime'' procedures that plump up, rather than paralyze, offending wrinkles. These include shots of tiny calcium particles called Radiance, human collagen or hyaluronic acid, a human-tissue molecule that received Food and Drug Administration approval early this month. All three work achieve the same goal -- filling in lines and wrinkles to smooth the face.

But these procedures, which range in cost from about $250 to more than $1,000, aren't without risk, like any other cosmetic surgery procedure. If performed by unskilled hands, they can cause unsightly lumps, drooping or swelling, doctors say. Dr. Abdala Kalil of Miami Beach notes that Radiance injected into lips sometimes turns into small, hard nodules that need to be cut out.

Even so, Kalil's patient load has doubled recently, up to 25 patients daily, between his Miami Beach-based Vitality Institute and visits to spas in Vero Beach and West Palm Beach.

One day last week at the Mount Sinai Medical Center & Miami Heart Institute in Miami Beach, Dr. Daniel Kane saw 33 women and two men, all ''scrambling'' to get Botox injections before the holidays. Kane, the hospital's chief of plastic surgery, said he's also operating on patients who made appointments for surgical procedures -- not injections like Botox -- between six and 10 months ago.

TIMING IS EVERYTHING

Manya Lowry-Rosenberg of North Miami was due for her regular Botox injections in October. But she waited until just before Thanksgiving, so her face would stay smooth through Christmas, for annual family pictures, and for New Year's.

Nestor, the Aventura plastic surgeon, has a full day of nonsurgical procedures scheduled for the Monday before New Year's.

''Is it a catalyst? It can be,'' he said of the holiday season. ``Having all the family over, people want to look as good as they can.''

Besides, said Lowry-Rosenberg, there are only so many new blouses, rings and bracelets you can wear.

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