Paula Moynahan, a plastic surgeon to CEOs and celebrities, also fixes minds.

Minds?

“Yes,” said Dr. Moynahan, who’s among only a handful of women in the world to have achieved double board certification from the American Board of Surgery and the American Board of Plastic Surgery. “I realized long ago that if you correct a defect in the body or a face, you’re really correcting a defect in the mind. People feel better about themselves afterward.

“So, in that sense, I’m a fixer of the mind,” the Connecticut-born Dr. Moynahan said with a smile.

Americans are seeking such transformations in growing numbers. Last year, they spent $12.5 billion on cosmetic procedures, a record. The number of surgical and nonsurgical cosmetic procedures in America increased by 44% to a total of nearly 11.9 million, according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. Men accounted for 10% of this figure.

The number of surgical procedures increased 17% last year from 2003, and the number of nonsurgical procedures increased 51%. The most frequently performed procedure was Botox injection, and the most popular surgical procedure was liposuction. The number of cosmetic procedures performed on men increased 306% from 1997 to 2004, according to the New York-based ASAPS.

“The big gratification for me is when someone says, ‘Doc, you changed the way I feel about myself,'” Dr. Moynahan said.

She is one of 2,500 physicians in America – out of a total of 800,000 – who practice plastic surgery. Of these, barely 200 are women. And 30 years ago, when Dr. Moynahan started practicing, only 17 women in the world were certified by the ABS and ABPS, the organizations that issue mandatory certifications.

“There used to be a definite bias again women in surgery,” Dr. Moynahan said. “The arguments against them were that they had periods – that PMS caused instabilities that no surgeon could risk. In 1975, only about 3% of students in America’s medical schools were women. Now there are slightly more than 50% in some medical schools. Women surgeons carry no more risk than their male counterparts. As to the natural female functions, there are always ways to work around that.”

She starts her surgeries at 7 a.m. Most days, she will perform at least two major surgeries and another eight minor ones. And because patients who undergo plastic or cosmetic surgery need what Dr. Moynahan calls “maintenance,” she is virtually assured of return visits.

The effects of Botox, for example, last about four months. Sculptra lasts about four years. It is the newest and longest-lasting of the injectable facial fillers.

Then there’s collagen. Its effects last just three months. And Restylane, a clear gel cosmetic dermal filler made of hyaluronic acid that is popular among teenagers because it enables them to have Angelina Jolie-type pouty lips, lasts six months. A typical face-lift – usually sought by men and women older than 51 – lasts seven years.

Dr. Moynahan refuses to do liposuction, however, which is the most popular form of cosmetic surgery in America for both men and women.

“People who are obese should engage in a program of diet and exercise,” she said.

Why, beyond vanity, do her patients seek plastic surgery?

“Genetics may explain why certain parts of the body or face age more rapidly, or don’t respond to other interventions,” Dr. Moynahan said. “Some children are born with ears that look as if the doors of a taxicab are open. But cosmetic surgery is very subjective. Unless there are specific medical reasons, it all depends on the patient’s wishes. But will a 50-year-old person ever look like a 30-year-old through plastic surgery? Not with the techniques we have available today.”

Those techniques include lasers and injectables. Dr. Moynahan said that although researchers in Paris, where she studied after getting her medical degree from the Medical College of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, may claim otherwise, the cutting-edge research in plastic surgery is being done in New York.

She is virtually assured of never running out of patients. America needs to train 3,000 to 10,000 more physicians a year – up from the current 25,000 – to meet the growing medical needs of an aging, wealthy nation, according to a recent study by Harvard University’s David Blumenthal. Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Blumenthal said that because it takes 10 years to train a doctor, the nation will have a shortage of 85,000 to 200,000 doctors in 2020 unless action is taken soon.

Dr. Moynahan agrees, citing the fact that, as nearly 80 million baby boomers edge past 60, they will want more than the services of physicians who treat medical ailments.

“The quest for looking young and fit has always been with us,” she said. “It’s an eternal quest. I’m just a lady doctor who tries to please her patients.”