Media - Articles

Excerpt from The Experts
Canadian Business
Aug. 2000

printed with permission

Good help these days

Sandy James Pritchard
Plastic surgeon

They say that to make it in the business world these days, you've got to have brass balls. (Sorry, gals.) What they forget to mention is the tight neck, the radiant eyes and the wrinkle-free forehead. Which is why, starting a few years ago, Dr. Sandy James Pritchard's plastic surgery clinic began to receive a torrent of business from middle-aged male corporate executives." l saw a real fear running rampant among the CEOs in their post-forties," he says. "Absolute panic."

They came to him desperate to look younger. High-tech was suddenly hot, and the traits that corporate Canada once valued – experience, wisdom, conservatism – were being pushed aside in favor of brash optimism and youthful energy. Greying executives wearing pinstripes and crow's-feet were out; 20-somethings with ponytails and Nikes were in. And so aging corporate types flocked to Pritchard – likely on the advice of their wives. Pritchard has been the nip-and-tuck artist to Canada's rich and famous for more than two decades. All of his business comes via the word-of-mouth circuits of the upper class. His plush office in the heart of Toronto's upscale Yorkville district is perfectly located for clients looking to squeeze a quick postoperative visit in between trying on thousand-dollar outfits at the chichi fashion boutiques across the sheet.

What Pritchard offers is the top-level service and discretion the rich and powerful demand. His clinic is a bastion of secrecy. Clients ring a doorbell to get in. To get out, they exit through a hidden door that opens on a different street altogether. And his efforts to ensure the privacy of his elite clientele don't stop there. "I can shut down the whole office for a day if that's what they want and it's a luxury they can afford," he says, explaining that many of his clients are willing to pay through their beautifully reconstructed noses to ensure their surgeries remain secret.

Pritchard has his own hospital facilities on site so that the delicate veil of privacy is not breached, even for the most major surgeries. "We'll keep them here overnight, but if they need longer to recover, or they're from out of town, we'll put them in one of the hotels here," he says, gesturing toward the posh Four Seasons and Park Hyatt hotels, both steps away from Pritchard's office. "And we send a nurse to stay with them." In fact, a good portion of Pritchard's clients travel from afar. They fly in from the US, Europe, the Middle East and Asia to be worked on. And when they return, many of them are careful to hide the evidence of their surgery, says Pritchard. "These people go home and take their old pictures down."

So what kind of surgery is the typical male executive looking for? Pritchard calls it "turning back the clock." That means face-lifts, forehead-lifts and eyelid tightening. His female clients – often the"trophy wives" of the corporate elite – tend to be more interested in thorough body work, such as breast implants, tummy tucks and liposuction. But none of this comes cheap. A thorough face-lift – including the jowls, neck, eyes and forehead – will cost you a hefty $25,000.

Nor is it unusual for one of Bay Sheet's alpha males to come to Pritchard looking for a little extra help in other, er, more intimate anatomical areas, to better stand out in the health club showers. (Believe it or not, the clinical term is "locker room phobia.") That's where Pritchard says he draws the line. He won't do penis enlargements. "That's done strictly so guys will look longer in the locker room," he says, noting that the illusion of enhancement doesn't work during arousal. "lt's short-dick syndrome. These executives are getting the surgery strictly to boost their egos."

Then again, all of these procedures are really there to boost the ego, aren't they? And judging by Pritchard's waiting list – which is as long as five months for major procedures – it would seem Canada's rich and powerful just can't get enough of that. Not that he'll ever be able to brag about who his clients are. "I would love to say 'I did that person's surgery' because I know it's incredible surgery and they look great," he says. "But I'll never be able to say that. Not even in my memoirs."

KEVIN LIBIN