plastic surgeons in Albuquerque (how much, high school, college)

[lemon&lime]

Are there any good ones? Seems like a couple of years when I lived there that was not much awareness of plastic surgery in Albuquerque, at least not anything like San Diego or southern California. I left New Mexico partly because I needed a nose job (which I could have flown out of state for) but I wonder: among other things in New Mexico that must change, is there ever gonna be a bunch of highly trained doctors or surgeons? Why is it worth it to live in a state where there isn't state of the art medical care?

[Zoidberg]

Not quite sure why you think medical care here isn't state of the art. We don't have Cedar Sinai or the Mayo Clinic, but neither does the rest of the country.

No matter where you live, if you need some ultraspecialized medical procedure, it's probably going to involve visiting another city.

[Chowhound]

Originally Posted by catrinac

Are there any good ones? Seems like a couple of years when I lived there that was not much awareness of plastic surgery in Albuquerque, at least not anything like San Diego or southern California. I left New Mexico partly because I needed a nose job (which I could have flown out of state for) but I wonder: among other things in New Mexico that must change, is there ever gonna be a bunch of highly trained doctors or surgeons? Why is it worth it to live in a state where there isn't state of the art medical care?

This sounds so LA. It's kind of sad when platic surgery is your criteria for relocation to a city. I'm sure the "backward" doctors in ABQ can handle a nose job. But what do I know?? I'm not trying to be pompus, just a little sad that this is even a thread. We have young girls who get boob job for high school graduation. This is the message that were sending our young people. What about achievements such as school,charity work etc. Just my my 2 cents.

really a little a confused??

[lemon&lime]

Originally Posted by Chowhound

This sounds so LA. It's kind of sad when platic surgery is your criteria for relocation to a city. I'm sure the "backward" doctors in ABQ can handle a nose job. But what do I know?? I'm not trying to be pompus, just a little sad that this is even a thread. We have young girls who get boob job for high school graduation. This is the message that were sending our young people. What about achievements such as school,charity work etc. Just my my 2 cents.

really a little a confused??

I posted this thread because I knew this is the exact response I would get. How L.A., how superficial, etc. Wake up Albuquerque, getting plastic surgery is mainstream and normal. I did not fix my nose until I was 34; I waited a really long time. My nose was quite huge and ruined decades of social and romantic opportunities. I was very unhappy in Albuquerque the whole time I lived there and the nose was part of it. When it boiled down to getting it fixed it was NOT an option to have it done locally; there simply wasn't a doctor qualified to handle it. I was going to have to fly out of state. Even Tucson has a world class surgeon, Dr. Frederick Menick. Go to his website, he is quite well known. Why can't Albuquerque have a doctor like him? It's the narrow-mindedness that just blows me away. The fact is the culture has become much more looks oriented than it was decades ago. I don't think this is superficial at all or some kind of sign of cultural decline but rather a sign that people are finally getting real about how much better good looking people are treated. I'm ok looking, that is not the issue. And that I could be "better looking" isn't the issue either. The issue is, at some point I am going to want to have some maintenance work done, and I would like to have it done locally by a top rated doctor. Flying out of state is so expensive, I can't believe someone would argue about this. Yes, I would rather live in a town that has a great plastic surgeon. If Albuquerque had that I would still be there. It's the weird New Mexican stronghold of backwoods conservatism that would declare this topic taboo or outrageous, and I find it really sad.

[lemon&lime]

Originally Posted by Chowhound

This is the message that were sending our young people. What about achievements such as school,charity work etc. Just my my 2 cents. really a little a confused??

This is a very judgemental, repressive attitude. I am college educated and worked with disabled people at an agency called ARCA while living in Albuquerque. I lived with my disabled people for a week at a time with every other week off and had no social life to speak of. Is this really the "better" attitude, that one should help others to the neglect of their own personal needs? I denied myself A LOT before my surgery, I was a total martyr and frankly not even that interesting a person to associate with. It is up to young people to decide what to do with their body, and if I had to do it all over again, I would have had the surgery at 19 or 20. Decades of my life were wasted for nothing. Albuquerque needs to get with the program and stop being so "head in the sand" about these types of realities.

[casden]

Originally Posted by catrinac

Albuquerque needs to get with the program and stop being so "head in the sand" about these types of realities.

OUCH!

Please try not to generalize about an entire city based on a comment you receive on this forum...I'm sure there are people in ABQ who've also had work done.

[lemon&lime]

Originally Posted by casden

OUCH!

Please try not to generalize about an entire city based on a comment you receive on this forum...I'm sure there are people in ABQ who've also had work done.

Sorry, I was overreacting to the perception that surgery is bad and helping the world is good. I suppose my general beef is that there still seems to be a lack of awareness about plastic surgery in the Albuquerque metro area, whereas every other metropolitan area has ads about it in their weeklies, ie, welcome to Salt Lake, would you like to have your tummy tucked, etc. Off putting, sure, but part of the new reality that in my opinion hasn't taken hold in Albuquerque due possibly to some kind of collective thing or the fact that a high class surgeon hasn't moved to town. I hope one does, so the Alibi can have an advertisement about "Being more beautiful", a talk given by Dr. X, at the Whole Foods, Thursday at 7. Public awareness is so important and I think would upgrade the quality of life in Albuquerque, contrary to what the other poster wrote. I want to be more beautiful, I am up front about it. I want to live in a town that supports that. When I lived in Albuquerque four years ago it was clear that the public was not yet "there" on the whole issue of plastic surgery. To my knowledge there were no public talks given in Albuquerque on botox or rhinoplasty, etc. Would it be so terrible if suddenly people you knew, like good friends, were at the Flying Star talking about their botox or recent boob job by Dr. X? Is surgery something that happens in other cities like Los Angeles but not in Albuquerque? Is the need to have surgery, the need to be pretty, a Californian value, to be dismissed outright? I hate to break it to you, but almost all metropolitan areas are getting hip to the plastic surgery thing, and I am merely suggesting that Albuquerque ought to get with it, if it does indeed want to be considered metropolitan.

[casden]

Originally Posted by catrinac

Sorry, I was overreacting to the perception that surgery is bad and helping the world is good. I suppose my general beef is that there still seems to be a lack of awareness about plastic surgery in the Albuquerque metro area, whereas every other metropolitan area has ads about it in their weeklies, ie, welcome to Salt Lake, would you like to have your tummy tucked, etc. Off putting, sure, but part of the new reality that in my opinion hasn't taken hold in Albuquerque due possibly to some kind of collective thing or the fact that a high class surgeon hasn't moved to town. I hope one does, so the Alibi can have an advertisement about "Being more beautiful", a talk given by Dr. X, at the Whole Foods, Thursday at 7. Public awareness is so important and I think would upgrade the quality of life in Albuquerque, contrary to what the other poster wrote. I want to be more beautiful, I am up front about it. I want to live in a town that supports that. When I lived in Albuquerque four years ago it was clear that the public was not yet "there" on the whole issue of plastic surgery. To my knowledge there were no public talks given in Albuquerque on botox or rhinoplasty, etc. Would it be so terrible if suddenly people you knew, like good friends, were at the Flying Star talking about their botox or recent boob job by Dr. X? Is surgery something that happens in other cities like Los Angeles but not in Albuquerque? Is the need to have surgery, the need to be pretty, a Californian value, to be dismissed outright? I hate to break it to you, but almost all metropolitan areas are getting hip to the plastic surgery thing, and I am merely suggesting that Albuquerque ought to get with it, if it does indeed want to be considered metropolitan.

I think if it's not already starting to happen in ABQ it definitely will. Especially if more pay, and looking good for the camera have anything to do with the number of plastic surgeons in an area. There are new movie studios that are either currently producing films, or are in their planning stages all over the ABQ metro...the movie business is becoming big business there. Already this has lead to some relocations from LA to ABQ (like a division of Sony Imageworks, for example), so maybe the cosmetic surgery will follow.

In Chicago - plastic surgeon ads are all over the place - and well you can tell by looking at some of the people in the Gold Coast and Lincoln Park areas. It seems I see more of that here than I did in San Fransisco.

[abqsunport]

Originally Posted by catrinac

I posted this thread because I knew this is the exact response I would get. How L.A., how superficial, etc. Wake up Albuquerque, getting plastic surgery is mainstream and normal. I did not fix my nose until I was 34; I waited a really long time. My nose was quite huge and ruined decades of social and romantic opportunities. I was very unhappy in Albuquerque the whole time I lived there and the nose was part of it. When it boiled down to getting it fixed it was NOT an option to have it done locally; there simply wasn't a doctor qualified to handle it. I was going to have to fly out of state. Even Tucson has a world class surgeon, Dr. Frederick Menick. Go to his website, he is quite well known. Why can't Albuquerque have a doctor like him? It's the narrow-mindedness that just blows me away. The fact is the culture has become much more looks oriented than it was decades ago. I don't think this is superficial at all or some kind of sign of cultural decline but rather a sign that people are finally getting real about how much better good looking people are treated. I'm ok looking, that is not the issue. And that I could be "better looking" isn't the issue either. The issue is, at some point I am going to want to have some maintenance work done, and I would like to have it done locally by a top rated doctor. Flying out of state is so expensive, I can't believe someone would argue about this. Yes, I would rather live in a town that has a great plastic surgeon. If Albuquerque had that I would still be there. It's the weird New Mexican stronghold of backwoods conservatism that would declare this topic taboo or outrageous, and I find it really sad.

First, the person who made the comment about "how californian" doesn't live in New Mexico, but rather California. Don't be judgemental.

I highly doubt, however, that to be comopolian, a city must be loaded with Plastic Surgeons. If you can afford the plastic surgery, you can probably afford a $100 flight to PHX.

Personally, when I go to a coffee place, or a grocery store I would rather not hear about Botox. I would rather not here about anything. When I take people to coffee I want to talk about Sports, Buisness, etc. Keep in mind this coming from a man's perspective.

I don't find it bad or taboo that you would like to change something about yourself. Personally though, I think it is sad that you feel a city has to be so superficial to have a bazillion ads that talk about Plastic surgery.

I don't think plastic surgery is bad, and I would never judge anyone who had it done. I don't think, however, that it should be the top of any city's priority list. I do think that the state and city need a lot more specialized doctors, however I would rather have a top rated heart surgeon anyday in my city over a plastic surgeon.

Just my two cents.

[Chowhound]

Originally Posted by catrinac

This is a very judgemental, repressive attitude. I am college educated and worked with disabled people at an agency called ARCA while living in Albuquerque. I lived with my disabled people for a week at a time with every other week off and had no social life to speak of. Is this really the "better" attitude, that one should help others to the neglect of their own personal needs? I denied myself A LOT before my surgery, I was a total martyr and frankly not even that interesting a person to associate with. It is up to young people to decide what to do with their body, and if I had to do it all over again, I would have had the surgery at 19 or 20. Decades of my life were wasted for nothing. Albuquerque needs to get with the program and stop being so "head in the sand" about these types of realities.

Sorry if I offended you catrinac. I personally don't have a problem with a little "nip" or "tuck". I've lived in LA area my whole life and it just seems that natural looking people are out of style. Especially in west LA. The play radio ads advertising breast augs, yeah that's what I said augs, because it is so common that people shorten the word to augs from augmentation. If someone has a "big" nose and it has really bothered them, then go for it. Heck, it is cheaper than years of therapy. There is a reality show on TV called the Real Wives of Orange County which shows a bunch of 40 somethings and they are all shallow to the point of laughter. You can tell that they've all had work done. It's just kind of crazy when the advertising media treats plastic surgery like you're stopping by to get an oil change.