Confessions of a Park Avenue Plastic Surgeon [BARGAIN PRICE] (Hardcover)

by Cap Lesesne (Author) "We plastic surgeons are perhaps second only to psychiatrists when it comes to being privy to patients' intimate secrets..." (more)
Key Phrases: cheek implants, breast augmentation, plastic surgeon, New York, Park Avenue, Grosse Pointe (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
You needn't be contemplating cosmetic surgery to be entertained by Lesesne's blend of name-dropping, horn-tooting, medical advice and insights. After more than 20 years of operating mostly on the rich and famous, he has plenty of stories. Among his more memorable patients are a gay man who wants breast implants on his back to give his partner something to hold onto during sex and the straight man who brought in his wife one day and his girlfriend the next. Lesesne also writes of receiving death threats from a Venezuelan oil magnate whose penis turned black after waist and hip liposuction (he failed to follow the doctor's post-op orders). Those details, along with gossip (including Lesesne's short-lived romance with Katie Couric), provide the juiciest bits of what sometimes reads more like an infomercial than a memoir. A recollection about a Frenchwoman morphs into a plug for the author's skin-care line; an anecdote about a woman who asks him out while on the operating table leads to a plug for a "light anesthesia cocktail" he and his anesthesiologist developed. You don't reach the pinnacle of plastic surgery success by downplaying your strengths, but Lesesne's book would have been even more appealing if he had performed a little ego-reduction surgery. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Description
New York City’s Park Avenue between 64th and 72nd Streets is the pinnacle for a plastic surgeon—if you can make it here, you’re at the top of your game. Home to the most renowned plastic surgeons—and clientele—in the world, it takes immense training and sacrifice to be successful on Park Avenue. Dr. Cap Lesesne, an internationally known plastic surgeon whose clients you would recognize from movies, TV, and the covers of magazines—supermodels, royalty, rock stars, and the very, very rich—now takes us behind the scenes to reveal the lives of his patients and the intimate reasons for which they call on his services.

Privy to his patients’ greatest insecurities, fears, and desires, Dr. Lesesne writes of making them over in the image of their favorite celebrities; being flown to a secret location to perform surgery on a queen and her lady in waiting; performing last-minute liposuction to perfect a model just seventy-two hours before a photo shoot; trying to turn back the clock for mega-rich dowagers who have started dating someone younger; and dozens of other fascinating cases. Dr. Lesesne also reveals his own struggles and challenges, and the toll his career has taken on his personal life.

A riveting insider’s account, Confessions of a Park Avenue Plastic Surgeon puts an astonishing new face on this booming industry. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• ISBN-10: 1592401708
• ASIN: B000EUKR86
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,187,204 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Light, fluffy, enjoyable read, April 4, 2006

By	Honey Cricket "honeycricket" (West Palm Beach, FL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Confessions of a Park Avenue Plastic Surgeon (Hardcover)

No one is ever going to mistake this for great literature or even a well-done memoir. Dr. Lesesne flits superficially from anecdote to anecdote and boasts irritatingly frequently of his accomplishments, his credentials, his skills, his big heart and his dates with a string of fabulous women. But I took the book for what it was: A breathless peek into a world most of us will never glimpse. If everything Dr. Lesesne writes is true, then he's had a most extraordinary life indeed, and his experiences alone are captivating enough to keep the interest up. You also learn a lot about the science and psychology of plastic surgery, which I find interesting from a scientific perspective. Written like a long magazine article, the book can be read in one afternoon.

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Read, November 28, 2005

By	Elizabeth (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Confessions of a Park Avenue Plastic Surgeon (Hardcover)

I just read Confessions of a Park Avenue Plastic Surgeon and thought it was a great book. It gives you a real insight of what a plastic surgeon goes through behind the scenes from day-to-day. Some of the patient stories were funny. The one about the man who wanted breasts on his back so his lover would have something to hold onto had me hysterical. I think this book is very informative for anyone thinking of having plastic surgery. You read about the roads that Dr. Lesesne traveled to get where he is today. I would recommend this book to everyone.

On a personal level, I had breast reduction surgery performed by Dr. Lesesne in November of 2005. I put off having surgery for over 10 years because I was so scared. Dr. Lesesne came highly recommended to me by my boss. After meeting Dr. Lesesne and seeing what a great doctor he is, I knew he was the right doctor to do my surgery. The results are wonderful. My back and neck pain is all but gone. It has definitely changed the way I look at myself. If it were not for Dr. Lesesne I would never have had the courage to go through with the surgery.

After reading this book and having had surgery with Dr. Lesesne I can tell you that he is a sincere, honest, nice man and a brilliant surgeon. Read the book!!!!!!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Read this only if you are a plastic surgery industry supporter, January 18, 2008

By	L. Doll "book fanatic" (Virginia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Like it says in the title of my review - you will probably only enjoy this book if you have had plastic surgery, are contemplating plastic surgery, or are just a general supporter of people who have plastic surgery. If you are not one of those people (like me), this book will be mostly an annoyance. I was really hoping this book would be an interesting look at plastic surgery - who gets it and why. Instead, there is a LOT of information about his background and education. Also - the man is a doctor, and narcissism seems inherent in that profession. We have to read a lot about all the royalty he's worked on, the celebrities, and other richy riches. We have to read a lot about how he is asked to do surgery on people around the globe because he comes so highly recommended. We have to read about how he flies to L.A. once every two months to work on people in the entertainment industry because he is in such high demand. Finally, and perhaps most annoyingly, we have to read about how he sizes up nearly every single person he looks at to see how he can "improve" them. If you don't believe me - read the other reviews of this book. He did it to someone who wrote a review here. Narcissism at it's finest. It was tough to stomach.