by VALENTINE NJOROGE
Plastic surgery is more and more common in Nairobi as middle-class Kenyans seek the feel-good factor of a little nip and tuck
Humans have been altering their appearance for generations. We Africans are famous for doing extreme things to our bodies, such as branding, neck elongation and the wearing of brass plates in the lower lip. Cosmetic surgery is the modern frontier of an age-old practice, and Nairobi is queuing up for a nip and a tuck.
?Plastic surgery is one of the fastest-growing areas of medicine in Kenya. In the past, wealthy Kenyans took trips abroad to get procedures done, but a few experienced Kenyan surgeons have travelled to the US and UK for training. Rumour has it they set out with the noble intention to treat cleft lips and perform skin grafts on burn victims and skin cancer patients, but they landed on a lucrative landmine.?
Stanley Khainga, secretary general of the Kenya Society of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons (KSPRAS), dismisses the rumour but says there is clearly money to be made in plastic surgery. Demand is on the rise, he says, as Kenyans become more exposed to what is available, incomes increase and there is a move towards greater individualism.
?“Our mentality is shifting and we are more willing to pay ourselves first. So patients will come in and spend money on a procedure that will make them happy instead of sending all their earnings to relatives upcountry. My patients are not the wealthiest Kenyans, just people who want to look better and feel better.” His practice, like that of other plastic surgeons in Nairobi, combines cosmetic and reconstructive surgery. Later this year he and some colleagues will launch a burn clinic where burn victims can receive pro bono treatments.?
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