The Wall Street Jounal Marketplace

A Rising Stock Market Also Lifts Faces, Noses, Tummies and Necks

By LEE BERTON Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Here's a stock-market tip for doctors: When Wall Street heats up, go into plastic surgery.

That's the advice of Robert Guida, a director of facial plastic surgery at New York Hospital. The 39-year-old doctor says that since the current market boom began, his operations on young male stockbrokers have risen sixfold.

"They're in a mad rush for nose jobs and liposuction on their necks, tummies and butts," Dr. Guida says. "They've now got the cash and want to look like Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy, so they can attract more clients."

Most brokers think of it as repackaging themselves. "I feel more comfortable now that I got rid of my Greek nose," says George Kapanos, a 30-year-old broker with Joseph Stevens & Co., a Wall Street investment firm. "When I sit with my clients, I feel 100% correct." Mr. Kapanos got a nose job and deviated-septum fix in August from Dr. Guida.

Mr. Kapanos notes that his income rose 40% last year, compared with 10% to 15% in previous years. "I've now got the money and I want to look right," he says.

While a simple nose job costs $2,000 to $4,000, many spend up to $16,000 on a nose job and liposuction combination.

Anthony Celentano, a 26-year-old broker at Joseph Stevens whose income rose 75% last year, had his nose done in December. Not only does he feel more confident, he says, but "other brokers don't kid me by asking whether I'm eating a banana or is that my nose all over my face."

With so much business rolling into Wall Street, brokers don't have time to exercise. A three-hour liposuction job is "a quick fix," says one Smith, Barney & Co. broker in his mid-20s, who requests anonymity because he says he hasn't told his out-of­town girlfriend about it. "I work up to 90 hours a week and can't get away to work out," he says. "But after three or four hours on the operating table, I looked great. It's actually a lot less trouble and pain than running and lifting weights."

But some longtime stockbrokers are skeptical that cosmetic surgery can help anyone get more business on Wall Street. "If you pick the right stocks for your clients, I don't care if you're purple and 3 feet tall, your phone will be ringing all day with new prospects," says Leonard Bokert, a 64-year-old retired partner of Cowen & Co., a brokerage firm. "It doesn't matter how gorgeous you look."

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