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Cosmetic surgery does not come cheap. A facelift costs upwards of $1,500 (Betty Ford's fee was about $3,200), eyelid surgery runs around $1,500. The cost is generally not covered by medical insurance (though it is tax deductible). Then too some risk is involved; some faces are changed for the worse. Warns Dr. Peter McKinney, a Chicago plastic surgeon: "If you buy a bum toaster, you can take it back. You can't take your face back."
Even the successful facelifts sometimes fall far short of the expectations of patients who want to look like Robert Redford or Sophia Loren. Says Dr. Lawrence Robbins of Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach: "We can't change what they are. Plastic surgeons are not gods." Still, for those like Betty Ford who feel the need for outer rejuvenation, aesthetic surgery can be a godsend.
* Rosalynn Carter has had plastic surgery performed on her eyelids, but whether it was for cosmetic or medical reasons has not been revealed.