Kuwait Times

Published Date: January 25, 2008
By Sahar Moussa, Staff writer

Of course I believe in inner beauty more than outer beauty. This is if you want the truth; this is if we are talking about truth," said Dr. Mohammad Mouhsin Moussa. Moussa is a plastic surgeon in Jarrallah Clinic. Moussa is an Egyptian in his mid-forties, with a deep, soft voice and an assuring smile.

When we talk about beauty, the notorious saying by Snow White witch mother, "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?" This quote resonates with youthful girls, almost as much as it does for older women (and men). For isn't it common to hear our outer beauty compared with that of others? "Beautiful" - as a word - is like a double-edged sword, both a curse and a blessing. We hear it among our siblings and even study it at school when we study Plato and Aristotle.

Plato saw that the changing physical world as a poor, decaying copy of a perfect and immutable ideal. The beauty of a flower or a sunset, a piece of music or a love affair is an imperfect copy of beauty itself in this world of changing appearances. While you might catch a glimpse of that ravishing perfection, it will always fade. It's merely attempts to signify the perfect beauty of the eternal.

Socrates commented on this and asserted that his potato shaped nose was beautiful because it was practical. For Aristotle, on the other hand, "beauty" would was rooted in order, repetition, and precision. Over the centuries, a lot of theories about beauty and the conceptualization of it have been propounded. However, in today's generation where Haifa Wehbe, Nancy Ajram and Elissa are considered the perfect beauties, how does each of us approach this ideal?

I have been in this field for 25 years and for the last 10 years now most of the cases I've been handling are of patients who come for cosmetic surgeries such as lasering, hair removal, fillings, Botox, and the like," Moussa said.

I started in the field in Egypt, and when I came to Kuwait 5 years ago, I continued. Despite the fact that Egypt has a bigger population, I have more Kuwaiti patients," he said. "One obvious reason could be the financial and economic status of Kuwaitis.

Ethics and human nature are aspects which plastic surgeons often tend to overlook in their work. Many do not care for the benefit of their patients or their needs, often strictly following the patients' directives and failing to give them genuine advise about whether a particular treatment is needed or not.

Once a patient wanted collagen injected in her lips and Botox on her face, stating vehemently that she didn't want the procedure to be too obvious so that others would want to look at her," Moussa recalled. "She claimed she had to go to work the next day and did not want her colleagues to notice much. So I tried my best to make is as light and soft as possible. I was shocked the next day when she called shouting at me because nobody at her workplace noticed anything different about her face. Many times I
try to convince my patients that they don't need a thing, because they have good proportions. But in the end it's always their decision.

The amount of machines and methods and new inventions that are being discovered everyday is simply amazing. It is believed that women living in the Gulf region spend around six billion dollars on cosmetics and plastic surgeries. It is a huge industry. Moreover, cosmetic surgeries are not only restricted to women. Men also indulge in making their outer appearances proportionally perfect. A lot of my patients are men, and you will be amazed that they do not tire me as women, especially the non-Arab patients
and the Kuwaiti upper class.

Studies have shown that based on looks and appearance the ability of a woman to be taken seriously in a number of environments increases and decreases drastically. Despite this, it is not necessarily important for a man to look handsome. That is only an added advantage. Good looking students get higher grades from their teachers than students with ordinary appearances, attractive patients receive more personal care from their doctors; studies have also shown that handsome criminals receive lighter sentence
s than less attractive convicts.

A lot of people say that being "beautiful," is a combination of inner beauty, which includes psychological factors such as personality, intelligence, talent, grace, charm and elegance; unfortunately inner beauty is something that goes unnoticed by people who care only about appearances.

Beautiful people" are those who follow trends in fashion, physical appearance, food, cars and houses. These people are mostly celebrities, models and wealthy actors and actresses who enjoy financial advantages which, in turn, help them achieve beauty.

La Prairie beauty advisor Mourad Shamly explains his experience with cosmetic surgery and as a man in the eastern world: "Nobody is perfect, but I'm looking for perfection and satisfaction. I want to reach perfection, for beauty stays forever. I do not mind removing wrinkles from my face with Botox or collagen. Now everybody is doing it - lots of showbiz types and models, and as an expert I can say that there are two kinds of cosmetics - surgeries and creams. Botox paralyzes the muscles; collagen fills th
e wrinkle; and laser makes the skin nice and smooth. But you need cosmetic creams to regenerate the cells and activate the collagen to stop the wrinkles.

It might look like I'm emphasizing superficial beauty and ignoring the inner person. I do believe in inner beauty, but I also believe in outer appearances. Our face is our passport, beauty means that your face must be clean and clear. We are not talking about men putting on makeup or wearing high heels. I'm not ashamed if somebody asks me if I enlarge my lips, cheeks, chin or I clean my eyebrows. And I can assure you that there are a lot of men in Kuwait who have had plastic and cosmetic surgeries and use
cosmetic creams. They just never say so openly.

Beauty is the spice of life. It is a combination of shapes, proportions and colors that is pleasant to the senses. When beauty and youth are evoked, the face is what immediately comes to mind. The physical and mental self are reflected because the face radiates with your feelings and emotions. The beauty of a face is a pair of eyes which engage in silent conversation, a pair of lips soft and smiling that attract the senses. Above all, it is a radiant and glowing complexion.

As against this, we might quote Kahlil Gibran: "Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart.