Photos by Jerry Zolynsky

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Beauty
At Any Age

More people undergo cosmetic
procedures as stigma loses its sting.

Linda Laderman | Special to the Jewish News

T

Assistant Brittany Lyon of Birmingham works at the computer as Dr. Mark Berkowitz looks on.

he face of cosmetic surgery is
the eyelids.
changing as patients become more
“Oculoplastic surgeons treat thyroid condi-
willing to share their experiences,
tions that affect the appearance of the eye,
and new, more effective and less
like Graves’ disease, and cancers
invasive procedures are developed.
around the eyelid,” Berkowitz said.
Dr. Mark Berkowitz, cosmetic
“I’ve always practiced a mix of func-
surgeon and owner of Accents
tional and cosmetic procedures.”
Cosmetic Surgery in Sterling
After a patient asked him to do
Heights and, most recently, West
cosmetic work on her lower eyelids,
Bloomfield, said the stigma sur-
Berkowitz expanded his cosmetic
rounding cosmetic surgery that
surgery practice, also teaching other
may have prompted patients in the
doctors the most recent develop-
past to conceal the work they had
ments in that area.
Dr. Mark
done doesn’t apply as much to a
“In 1995, a patient I treated with a
Berkowitz
new generation of plastic surgery
laser for an upper eyelid issue asked
patients.
me to work on her lower eyelids, so
Baby boomers who undergo cosmetic
I learned how to apply the laser to that area,
surgery are more likely to be discreet
too. That was when I put down my scalpel
about it, sharing their experience only
and began working with lasers because there
with spouses and maybe a few trusted
is no bleeding,” Berkowitz said.
friends, according to Berkowitz. But for
Since then, Berkowitz has concentrated his
younger generations, the question of “did
practice solely on cosmetic surgery, taking an
she or didn’t she” is going by the wayside.
approach that emphasizes patient education
Social media is one reason cosmetic sur- and managing expectations.
gery is losing its aura of secrecy, encourag-
“I always knew I wanted to do something
ing people to share, rather than hide, their that made people happy right away. Even so,
experiences at the plastic surgeon’s office,
I make sure my patients are good candidates
Berkowitz said.
for plastic surgery with achievable expecta-
“A decade ago, we would have some-
tions. Ideally, they have done their research
one who would tell a friend, and one or
and they know about the procedures they
two friends would follow her lead. Now,
because of the viral nature of social media,
dozens of friends might come in based on
what they saw from one happy client.”
Berkowitz recalled a 30-year-old woman
who was satisfied with the results of her
liposuction. “She began posting pictures in
a bikini within two weeks after the proce-
dure,” Berkowitz said. “Her friends posted
how great she looked, and her ‘likes’ hit
several hundred in a matter of 24 hours.”
A board-certified and fellowship-trained
oculofacial surgeon, Berkowitz graduated
from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine
in New York City, then went on to a fellow-
ship at the University of Toronto, where he
specialized in oculoplastic surgery, treat-
ing conditions that affect the area around
Berkowitz examines a patient.

116 September 29 • 2016

want to have done.”
That doesn’t mean that Berkowitz treats
everyone who walks through the doors of his
office.
“I probably turn away two to three people
a week because they have unrealistic expec-
tations,” Berkowitz said. “My name is on
everyone’s face so I want them to look natu-
ral, like they just came back from vacation.”
In her mid-50s, “Meryl” (not her real
name), a cosmetic surgery patient and a
successful local business owner, agrees with
Berkowitz’s attitude toward esthetic proce-
dures.
“I went to Dr. Berkowitz for a mini-face
lift — it’s like a lifestyle lift,” Meryl said of the
procedure that took less than a half a day to
perform.
“It was not at all painful. It wasn’t an
extreme process,” she added. “Four days
later, I was out and about at a restaurant with
friends taking selfies.”
Four years after she had the procedure,
Meryl’s friends still don’t know about her
surgery.
“It was so subtle. I didn’t want to look
like I was 20 years old — even 20-year-olds
have wrinkles. I just wanted to look good,
not fake. I’m really happy about it, but now I
wish I’d done my neck, too.”

Berkowitz works on the computer in one of
the exam rooms as assistant Josh Gartner
of New Haven moves equipment into place.

After two decades in the field, Berkowitz
is quick to recognize whether a patient is a
good candidate for plastic surgery.
“If patients don’t want their friends to
know, that’s fine. But if they don’t want their
spouse to know, that’s not going to work,”
Berkowitz said. “That’s why we talk to our
patients for two hours before they meet with
our patient coordinator.”
Women comprise 80 percent of
Berkowitz’s practice, but more and more
men are coming in for hair transplants and
double chin reductions. Both genders have
taken advantage of a non-surgical fat reduc-
tion process called cool sculpting, Berkowitz
said.
Berkowitz practices what he preaches,
having undergone a few cosmetic treatments
himself.
Looking fit and youthful, he said, “I’ve had
a hair transplant and cool sculpting on my
midsection. It reduces the fat by 20 to 25 per-
cent in the area we treat.”
Berkowitz advises those thinking of
undergoing a cosmetic procedure to do their
homework.
“Make sure you feel comfortable with the
physician and the staff, and call the doctor
with questions you may have. If you don’t
feel you can call your doctor, then you don’t
have the right physician,” he said. “I believe
in treating everyone the way I’d like to be
treated so I call all of my patients after their
procedures.”
Accents’ new location on Orchard Lake
Road in West Bloomfield gives Berkowitz
an opportunity to work in the community
where he lives.
Drawn to the Detroit area by its large
Jewish community, Berkowitz and his
wife, Kerri, moved to the West Bloomfield
area more than 20 years ago because they
believed it would be a good place to raise
their two sons, Kevin, now 20, and Jeremy,
24.
“Our sons celebrated their bar mitzvahs at
Temple Beth El. This is a terrific area to raise
a family,” Berkowitz said.

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