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Enrina Diah finds excitement in sculpting the human body
JP/Triwik K
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JP/Triwik K.
While a sculptor shapes and carves wood, stone or other materials into works of art, Enrina Diah has a passion for sculpting real human bodies.
Born in Manado, North Sulawesi, on May 23, 1974, the cosmetic surgeon was already interested in reshaping people’s faces and bodies when she studied at the University of Indonesia’s medical school in the 1990s.
After getting her premed degree in 1997, she specialized in plastic and reconstructive surgery at the same university before learning more about craniofacial surgery at the Chang Gung Memorial Hospital’s Craniofacial Center in Taiwan for a year.
She also got a chance to go travel the world, to Switzerland, Brazil and the United States, learning more about cosmetic surgery.
“It’s not just a science, but also an art,” says Enrina, whose father is a pediatrician.
“Doing the surgery is like sculpting human curves into more pleasing shapes. It’s so challenging.”
She grew more enthusiastic when she found out there was a rising demand for this type of surgery.
“Many Indonesians used to consider cosmetic surgery a taboo thing to do,” she says.
“But today, people are getting more open and believe in this kind of procedure. Many local celebrities have said publicly that they’ve had cosmetic surgery for reconstruction or for purely esthetic reasons.”
Currently, she goes on, there are more and more people coming to her clinic for cosmetic surgery, in an effort to make them more beautiful than ever before.
“Beauty is important for many people,” Enrina says.
“In a 2007 study by the University of California, a woman who was attractive and beautiful tended to receive special treatment in the workplace.”
For Enrina herself, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
“It’s something subjective,” she says.
“The beauty ideal changes constantly with time, and differs from one country to another.”
Hundreds of years ago, she points out, classical portraits showed off women who were curvy, full and solid.
In the 1960’s, skinny bodies as flaunted by Twiggy, a stick-thin model, ruled the world, while now, a woman is considered beautiful if she has curvy body, slim and healthy figure.
Studies show people report increased satisfaction with the body part they have had surgery on, Enrina says.
The results, she adds, are mixed over whether plastic surgery boosts their self-esteem, quality of life, self-confidence and interpersonal relationships in the long term.
The 35-year-old Enrina practices at the Brawijaya Women’s and Children’s Hospital in South Jakarta, as well as at the Swadana Plastic Surgery Clinic in Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital in Central Jakarta, and at her own clinic, Ultimo Estetika in South Jakarta.
She says she sees 60 to 70 patients a month, ranging in age from 25 to 40 years old, and from a gamut of backgrounds: from celebrities to housewives. About 20 percent of her patients, she adds, are expatriates.
Most of her patients opt for body contouring, liposuction, rhinoplasty (reshaping the nose), eyelid surgery or a face lift.
Surprisingly, some of her patients are teenagers.
“They’re young entertainers who come to get a rhinoplasty because they want to look good in front of the camera and be able to compete with other newcomers,” Enrina says.
Being a cosmetic surgeon has taught Enrina much about people’s personalities.
She says she always asks her patients detailed questions before advising on the surgery, especially about their reasons for wanting to do it.
“I always tell them to have the surgery for themselves, not just to please other people,” she says.
“In some cases, you get housewives who want a tummy tuck or liposuction to keep their husbands from turning to other women.”
From her time overseas, Enrina also learned there were different demands among Asian and Europeans, since they have different anatomies.
Asians, for instance, mostly want to make their nose more prominent, she says, while Europeans want the opposite.
Even though the surgery can help reconstruct and reshape one’s body, self-confidence still plays a big role, she points out.
“Cosmetic surgery is just one way to make yourself more beautiful,” she says.
“The most important thing is to feel good about yourself.”
Having carried out myriad surgeries over the years, Enrina claims she has never undergone any plastic surgery herself.
“All my body parts are still original,” she giggles.
“But there’s a possibility that someday, when I’m over 40 and I think I need to reshape my eyelids, for instance, I might be interested in having the surgery.”
Her secrets to staying fit, healthy and in shape are going to the gym three times a week, swimming, getting enough sleep and eating good food.
When she is not busy with her patients, you might find her spending time with her beloved daughter, Alyssa Vania, 10, at home, reading her favorite detective novels or browsing the Internet from her mobile phone.
