Listen to This Article Enhance your reading experience by listening to this article.

@BettyMuindi

Like the metamorphosis of a caterpillar to a butterfly, Fresia Wamae’s physical transformation is stunning. However, unlike the life cycle of a butterfly, which takes weeks, Fresia’s change was instant.

The 35-year-old public relations assistant underwent a Sh300,000 worth of cosmetic surgery two years ago to alter her body.

She had liposuction and tummy tuck in January 2018, and six months later, the married mother of three had breast reduction surgery, which took her from a 44F bra size to a 38C.

The combined removal of fat, breast and stomach tissue saw Fresia lose 15 kilogrammes, and this got her weight down to what she weighed 10 years before when she got pregnant with her first baby.

The decision to improve her looks was all her husband’s idea, and he paid for it. “Every now and then, my husband would throw a comment here and there about how he wishes my body would go back to what it was when we were dating.

It dawned on me that I am no longer the girl that my husband married. I am glad he was kind to tell me and even asked if there was anything we could do,” she smiles. 

Not seductive

Fresia feels irresistibly sexy, and her husband adores her. “The surgeries changed me emotionally, physically and psychologically. I can now stand in the shower and look at my feet.

I can wear a potato sack and feel sexy. I have gone from being fat and unattractive to taking my clothes off and walking around in my bra and underwear,” she explains.

Her husband, she says, shows her off to his friends, something he couldn’t do before the surgeries.

Shahin Nooreyezdan, a plastic, cosmetic and reconstructive surgery senior consultant at Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals in New Delhi, India, was in the country to follow up on his patients two weeks ago.

He confirms that men are behind most cosmetic surgeries he has carried out. 

Grace Kawira concurs. She says her husband has been bugging her to consider surgery after exercise and diet failed.

“I am a size 12. With my clothes on, I don’t look too bad, but without them, it is a different story. A pouch of baggy skin hangs from my stomach, my tummy and thighs are a roadmap of stretch marks.

After breastfeeding four babies, my 34A boobs have sagged, and they look like empty bags. Hardly the most seductive of looks,” she cries, and her husband is not happy about it.

She is considering that option, but she is worried that it may strain them financially.

A 2017 study by 3D-Lipo, a company that develops devices in the beauty and aesthetics industry revealed that more than half of men believe their partner should have plastic surgery to enhance their looks. 

The study polled 2,000 men aged 18 to 60 and discovered 55 per cent admitted they would like their current partner to undergo a cosmetic procedure, or have wanted a previous partner to have this done.

Attributes pointed out by the 2,000 men aged 20 to 60 years included a good bust (48 per cent) good bum (42 per cent) and good smile (33 per cent). “Men are highly involved in this process.

They accompany the women to surgery, pay for it, encourage them and support them through the healing process,” Roy Cowly, the company’s director said. 

Leading procedures

However, not all men are for it. James Njeru says he wouldn’t for anything want or pay for cosmetic surgery for his wife. “Bodily changes and ageing is a natural process.

All I would advocate for is diet to reduce weight or look younger, but never cosmetic surgery. I would be horrified to touch her for fear that her breasts would leak or get smashed,” he adds.

Shahin confirms that Kenyan women mostly go for butt enlargement, bust reduction or lifting, facelifting, tummy tuck and liposuction .

Shahin, who has over 30 years experience in plastic surgery having studied medicine in India and the United Kingdom and has a wealth of experience in cosmetic surgery and cancer reconstructions, says Africans are increasingly taking enormous interest in the way their bodies look.

According to a 2017 report by WhatClinic, a health company that connects patients across 135 countries to access specialists overseas, liposuction, hair restoration, and breast implants are some of the leading cosmetic procedures Kenyans seek abroad. 

The survey shows of the 119, 870 Kenyan patients who travelled abroad in 2016 for treatment, liposuction – a surgical procedure to reshape and re-position fat in the body – was the most sought-after procedure.

Hair transplants and fertility treatments ranked second and third respectively. 

Shahin says a majority of celebrities we admire including TV anchors have been his clients.

The term cosmetic surgery, he says, is often erroneously used interchangeably with plastic surgery. Cosmetic surgery refers to surgical procedures for physical enhancement while the latter is primarily for repairing defects.

Kenyans seek both services with the costs ranging between Sh350,000 and Sh1m per procedure or even more depending on its complexity.

In some cases, Shahin says, plastic surgery corrects birth defects,  deformities brought about by accidents or disease and so on. Some surgeries correct  medical issues such as troubled breathing, poor sight and back pain. 

Boob jobs, also medically known as breast augmentation is performed on breast cancer survivors. Breast reduction is often performed on women with larger breasts that cause pain. 

“Large breasts cause back pain and can sweat profusely, causing painful cysts. Breast reduction makes a woman’s large breasts manageable, which can better her quality of life,” he offers.

He discourages people who go to considerable lengths and are willing to incur serious risks to change the appearance of their bodies for what they take to be the better.