“I regularly used to watch German TV, as I lived in Germany for 12 years. There are many shows there dedicated to plastic surgery which explain why people decide to have it done. For the most part, those are regular people, waiters, clerks, lawyers, however, they all say that they underwent plastic surgery in order to look better if they have the opportunity. In a way, that triggered me to begin thinking about it, as did my chance meeting with Dr. Glumičić. I asked him how my face could be improved. ‘You can wait a little longer,’ he told me. Three years later, I came to him when I decided to take some years off my face.”

This was the comment made by Srećko Pavić, a lawyer from Tisno near Šibenik, a vital and active 66 year old man who underwent a face life this December. He is the first Croat to not fear to publicly admit to having the operation. The majority of men and women in Croatia and in the world, especially the rich and famous, are not willing to admit to even the slightest esthetic correction to their face or body, even though oftentimes it is extremely obvious. The newest case was Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, whose new improved and younger look sparked much debate in Italy. This brought up a series of questions: are men permitted to alter their appearance as women are, should they openly admit to it and especially – is this type of alteration permissible for politicians and statesmen, as it could easily degrade their credibility, and politicians without credibility are best leaving politics immediately.

Eighteen months ago, there was an unusual political court case in Hamburg, one of the most unusual in many years. The plaintiff was German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder, who sued the German agency DPP. The Chancellor was angered by an article released by the agency that claimed that the then 58 year old Chancellor was coloring his hair. This became a topic of political debate, and one opposition politician commented in parliament saying “a man who alters the color of his hair probably also alters state statistical data.” The Chancellor asked that the agency withdraw the story and to publicly state that it was not true and to apologize. When the agency refused, he took the case to court. He won the case, and more importantly, he succeeded in creating such media pressure that they stopped talking about it.

Proof of just how sensitive this topic is for politicians is the case of French President Jacques Chirac, whom the French press recently accused of hiding from the public the fact that he has hearing problems, and that if he is hiding this fact, who knows what else he could be hiding. It was the French weekly magazine L’Express that revealed that Chirac has a hearing problem. He failed to inform the public that he needs to wear a hearing aid, and the French media believe that this is something that the public should be officially informed of. Though his hearing difficulties in no way disqualify him from doing his job, it does show that he has been covering up an important fact about his health, which reminds the French of the situation with their last president, Francois Mitterrand, who for ten years suffered from cancer and banned that fact from being included in the regular annual reports on his health.

When Croatia’s first president Franjo Tudjman was first diagnosed with cancer, the Croatian public likely would have had no idea what was going on with him until his death, because the HDZ government at the time considered it was best to cover up his illness and to release phony diagnoses from his team of physicians had it not been for certain media, primarily Nacional, which reported on his true medical condition from its own sources. This was not discussed during the Tudjman regime, and the entire situation is now a part of Croatia’s “Balkan history”, which we can only hope will not repeat itself. The public, all over the world, wants to know and has a right to know about the health of their politicians, whether the issue is a difficult or terminal illness or esthetic operations. The recent case of 67 year old Silvio Berlusconi is only proof.

At the end of January he reappeared in the public after a one month holiday, looking much fresher than before. However he, like many, was not honest in his statements about what he had done to himself. At first he stated that he had been on a strict diet and lost 11 kg, and later under media pressure he admitted to “having my upper eyelids done”.

“She made me do it,” he commented ten days ago to a group of journalists covering his meeting with a group of Italian fashion designers, referring to his wife, former actress Veronica Lario. Soon afterwards, the Italian weekly L’Espresso wrote that the Premier had undergone extensive cosmetic surgery: it was obvious that he had fewer wrinkles, that his skin was tighter and that his double chin was gone. The surgery took place at the end of December at the Ars Medica clinic in Ticino County, Switzerland and the doctor was a cosmetic surgeon from San Francisco.

Nacional spoke with Siniša Glumičić, a reputed cosmetic surgeon from Zagreb with his own private clinic and with Ivo Džepina, who works at the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Department at the Rebro Clinical Hospital. They both agreed that Silvio Berlusconi underwent a radical procedure, either a full or partial face lift, an operation which is also done on more men in Croatia than in earlier years.

“Looking at photos of before and after the operations, it would appear that he had a face lift in addition to the blefaroplastika, the upper eyelid correction. His face and neck are much tighter and the difference in the position of the face, the wrinkles, the tissue above the cheekbones and the lower jaw are evident,” said Ivo Džepina. He claims that the democratization of esthetic surgery is heading in the direction that men are opting more to go under the knife, and the percentage in Croatia is virtually the same as that in the US, where ten percent of all esthetic operations are on men. Glumičić commented that the trend of operations on man is growing quickly, and the statistics in his clinic show that in recent years, men have accounted for 30% of all patients.

“Fifteen years ago, when I worked under Dr. Milojević, the ratio was 5-10% men and 85-90% women. Now we have at least one male patient in our clinic every week,” said Glumičić. He stated that it is possible that the Italian Premier underwent temporal lifting and not a classical face lift, which means that only the top third of his face was lifted. One cut is made behind the ear in order to lift the area around the eyes. However, it is possible that the Premier only had Botox treatments, a chemical frequently used to iron out wrinkles and to tighten the skin. “A face life would have taken ten years off of Berlusconi, however, the recovery is much longer. The Botox injection has the same effect as temporal lifting, eliminating lateral wrinkles around the eyes. Politicians in the West, like many actors, singers, businessmen and other people, both men and women, love to get Botox injections. The American democratic candidate John Kerry also uses Botox. In America, the president must look good. That does not mean that he has to be handsome, but it means that he has to look good, as many people vote on the basis of attractiveness and the overall impression of the candidate. There are people whose appearance does not suit their spirit and attitude – they look tired and worn out when really they are full of energy and creativity. For those kind of people, there is no option but surgery. Botox allows for an instant effect, and you don’t have to have the time for recovery. The injection can be made on your lunch break, right before an important event and the effects are fantastic on removing wrinkles, especially the wrinkles around the eyes and on the forehead. This compound literally paralyses the small muscles and is so precise that it blocks exactly those muscles where it is injected, so the facial expressions remain natural. The therapy only has to be repeated after five or six months.”

Nor did John Kerry want to admit that he had been to see the cosmetic surgeon. When they asked him if he had had Botox injections, he answered with a counter question: “What is that?” The American press was even more suspicious over his reaction, as it was well known that Kerry’s wife had had the injections, and it was strange for him to not know what it was.

Croatian businessman, Srećko Pavić spoke with Nacional last Saturday, did not even think twice about hiding the fact that he was going to have cosmetic surgery done. He told his friends and acquaintances that he was going to Zagreb to have a face lift, and he said that people reacted well.

“For Mr. Pavić, we did a face correction and lift, tightening the skin of the face and neck. He is a very interesting man, who came in with the desire to look fresher, but not tense and unnatural. I love that attitude in a patient, who is not forcing either me or himself. I could have done a face lift that wouldn’t have left a single wrinkle on his face, but then he would have looked as though he had passed through a wind tunnel. Americans frequently do that kind of lifting, and that only looks good two years after the surgery. Faye Dunaway looks like that,” said Glumičić.

Srećko Pavić explained for Nacional what spurred him to have the surgery. “I always like to look good. That is vanity, a normal thing. I love it when they tell me that I look ten years younger than I am. Otherwise, I live alone, I was divorced 25 years ago, and I would like to find a younger women for a life together. However, after many attempts to find one, I haven’t found a woman who satisfies me in all aspects. It’s not all about sex, you have to spend 24 hours a day with that person. Though I am single, I like everything to look neat, I cook for myself, only healthy food and do all the cleaning. I take care of my health and swim in the sea all year long. I also like working outdoors. To date, I have planted 300 olive trees and I have 2 vineyards with 1000 wine plants. I take care of all that myself. I also work as the main chef in my 20 room hotel in Tisno, the first private hotel in Yugoslavia, even though I have ten employees. I have been cooking for over 20 years as I have never been able to find a good chef. Now I am a little tired of it all, and considering that my children live in Germany and have no intention of returning to Croatia, I am thinking of selling the hotel. I’m planning to build something else on a large plot of land in Tisno that I inherited from my parents.

Srećko Pavić worked in Germany for 12 years after graduating from Law in Zagreb. He worked as an assistant in a law firm in Zagreb but didn’t like it. “I tried my hand at three thankless and somewhat dishonest professions. In high school I studied in the seminary in Šibenik and Zagreb for seven years. My classmate today is the Bishop of Šibenik. In 1990 when the war started, I was vice-president of the Peasant’s Party in Zagreb under Stipac. After six months I resigned as I wasn’t interested in that line of work. These are all dishonest professions, as priests, lawyers and politicians all speak on behalf of someone else, on behalf of those they don’t know and who live different lives than them in every sense of the word. That is deceit and manipulations. I always say that those people are selling fog,” says Pavić.

He says that he found the meaning of life in his business and in nature, in his olive groves and vineyards. He has no plans to ever stop working, and he cannot understand when people look forward to the day when they will have nothing to do. That in his opinion makes no sense and he keeps making plans as though he will live eternally. All that is missing in his plans is a young woman, 40 years old at most, at his side. “I’m a little picky. I’m used to younger women. My beautiful home in Tisno attracts young and beautiful women, but other than sex, I’ve still not found that I have anything in common with any of them. The women that would live with me are usually from the city, and they have no sense of appreciation for nature. However, I’m still hoping that the right one will come along.”

Several weeks after the cosmetic surgery in Zagreb, he is very satisfied with the results. He said that he really enjoyed the atmosphere in the clinic, especially the young women working for Dr. Glumičić. “I was joking in the operation when I said that if none of the women fell in love with me, then the operation was a failure!”

According to Glumičić, Pavić is the ideal face lift candidate, as he has the ideal motivation. “If someone is having a facelift in order to satisfy his woman, and not for himself, then that is relative motivation and generally not good. Nor when a woman does the same for her husband or partner. It is much better when someone decides on the operation for themselves, because they want to look better.” As Pavić said, “I was good looking before, and now I look even better. I like that. Everyone in my town has told me that I look excellent.”

Pavić confirmed the claims by esthetic surgeon Ivo Džepina that people have the wrong impression about who the patients are who come in to see the cosmetic surgeon. “The impression which dominates in the media is that only singing or movie stars have these operations. We see patients of all professions and from all walks of life, and most patients are ordinary people, and stars and people in the limelight actually make up a very small percentage. Male patients do not come only out of vanity, but primarily for justified reasons. Either they have large bags under their eyes, an ugly or asymmetric nose, they are bald or want to remove excess fat off their abdomens after weight loss.”

All patients have one thing in common: they want discretion. Only a few male stars in Croatia have had surgery done and the public knows. Several years ago, sports reporter Bozo Sušec operated the bags under his eyes, and allegedly, Tonći Huljić had the same operation recently. Actor Rene Bitorajac had a deviated septum and difficulties breathing and during the surgery, Glumičić also corrected the tip of his nose as well. This is no secret and as such, their surgeons can discuss their cases. However, regarding other people from public life suspected of having cosmetic surgery, the doctors’ lips are sealed.

“There are many public figures, some of whom you would never believe had surgery, who want to change their faces or bodies. Those are the people that are especially sensitive. I once operated on well known Dr. Dragutin Rubal, who had a show on Narodni Radio and who did not hide the fact that he had the operation, which is very rare. Three times he came in for hair transplants and after every time, he went on the air to say that he had a turban on his head because he had come to work with hair implants. That, however, is really a rarity. Men from public life usually come in for their noses or for breathing problems, and they I correct their noses while I’m at it. The second most prevalent problem is baldness, followed by abdominal fat, a growing trend. Only one man from public life has approached me with an interest for a face lift, though he has not decided yet though it would mean a lot to him,” said Glumičić.

We asked Glumičić and Džepina whether politicians from Croatian go under the esthetic knife. “Why shouldn’t they have the same right as everyone else, why should we be unfair to them?” responded Dr. Džepina, though he was not clear as to whether or not anyone has approached him for the operation. Dr. Glumičić said it is rare for Croatian politicians to decide on cosmetic surgery. “Our politicians are either not interested, or they have a different attitude about that, perhaps they are less interested in their appearance or they are not prepared to go under the knife.” He stated that he has had a few such patients, in various periods over the past ten years. For the most part, they were interested in freshening up their faces, removing bags under their eyes, or operating their lids. Several have had hair implants, others liposuction on their stomachs. But to date, no face lifts. We asked him what kind of procedure he would recommend for Premier Ivo Sanader, President Stipe Mesić, former minister Radimir Čačić or someone else on the Croatian political scene.

“Men like them carry their characters very well and I wouldn’t say that they need to operate any single details on their faces or bodies. I would really have to think about who among the politicians I would make a recommendation for. Even though as a cosmetic surgeon, I can immediately see what could look better on someone with a little work of the scalpel, not a single politician comes to mind. I think that even Ljubo Ćesić Rojs doesn’t need any work. He has rounded out his image and there is nothing to do there. Also, when a patient comes to me to ask what I would change, I would never tell him, even when I think he needs something. I let them give me their opinion first.”