Watching TV(credit:
Spoon)
Do you love to watch all those extreme makeover shows and have been getting secret thoughts of getting some nips and tucks yourself? A small study by researchers at Yale, the first to examine the effect of these shows on decision-making by patients, suggests that the answer is yes.
To determine whether shows such as Extreme Makeover and Dr. 90210 affect patient behavior, researchers polled 42 first-time patients who sought a consultation at Yale′s plastic surgery clinic about how often they watched such shows, which have proliferated in recent years.
Plastic surgeon John Persing and his colleagues found that 57 percent of patients, whose average age was 36, regularly watched one or more reality shows; only 12 percent said they had never seen one.
These frequent viewers cited the TV shows as a significant factor in their decision to consult a surgeon, and were more knowledgeable about procedures than those who said they rarely or never watched the programs.
Ethnic and racial differences emerged as well, Persing and his colleagues found. About 75 percent of Hispanics, who accounted for roughly a third of those surveyed, said they were frequent viewers, as were 70 percent of African-Americans, who accounted for a quarter of those polled. By comparison, only 36 percent of whites, who made up 33 percent of the group, said they often watched the shows. Nearly all were female.
The study appeared in the journal Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.