Surgeons Cut Out the Blushes

Oddly enough/Reuters/iwon.com ^ | 3-15-02

[petuniasevan]

Surgeons Cut Out the Blushes

March 15, 2002 8:19 am EST

LONDON (Reuters) - Hot under the collar?

A London clinic is charging stressed professionals $5,680 to drill a hole in their armpits, snip away their nerve endings and eliminate their blushes for good.

Its patients include television presenters and financiers, fearful that any sign of weakness could damage their careers.

"We're talking about professional people whose lives have been blighted by blushing," Anthony Mitra, surgical director of the exclusive Highgate Private Hospital in north London, told Reuters.

In the 40-minute operation, surgeons drill a hole near the patient's armpit and insert a telescope to view the delicate procedure which involves clipping the nerve endings at the base of the neck that trigger blushing.

Mitra said business was brisk.

Recent visitors included a TV presenter and bankers who said they had opted out of front-line jobs on trading floors and chosen a lower profile due to their excessive blushing.

"If you're negotiating a deal or a contract and you blush, then you give your position away. When you're in business, the only emotions you want to convey are the ones you're in charge of," Mitra said.

Patients are kept overnight, but Mitra said the effects of the treatment were immediate. The surgery does not leave any visible scars. Side-effects can include increased sweating.

Mitra said patients were an even mix of men and women and that celebrities sometimes visited the clinic, though he declined to name names. "Whoever thought blushing was a serious problem?" he said.

[petuniasevan]

Never let them see you sweat blush.

[boomop1]

May they give a lobotomy as a bonus, Spock says beam me up Scotty.

[blackbart1]

It would seem that sweating would give one away as well. Doesn't make much sense...imo.

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

Side-effects can include increased sweating.

Sure, 'cause THAT'S so much more attractive than blushing.....

This will NEVER become popular in the South, blushing is what Southern girls DO! lol

[fnord]

surgeons drill a hole near the patient's armpit and insert a telescope ...

OUCH! at least it aint proctology.

[Cleburne]

Not to mention the fact you'd be soaked in five minutes (as opposed to ten).

[Cagey]

.....blushing is what Southern girls DO! lol

Bless their hearts.

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

Oops! Now I've told our secret weapon..... blushing....

[philomath]

Oops! Now I've told our secret weapon..... blushing....

you left out hairspray, gobs and gobs of hairspray.....

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

Hairspray? Who told you about hairspray? Whoever did could possibly lose her membership to the "Secrets of Being a Woman Society".........

[philomath]

Tuscaloosa in the late 70's. That stuff could turn hair into a weapon; nothing like a sharp poke in the eye to set things going right.