In the 1980s, I worked as an attending physician in plastic surgery at Mackay Hospital. Colleagues are all male doctors, specializing in treating diseases and saving lives, and they have prejudice against plastic surgery. The other day, I had a facelift on a 60-year-old woman. During lunch, a group of male doctors discussed, “A 60-year-old woman is so beautiful, who should I show her? When she’s so old, who cares what she looks like?”
A senior even questioned me, “The patient is ignorant, and you should tell her if you are a doctor. Are you ready for surgery without a knife? Are you bored enough to have plastic surgery for a 60-year-old woman?”
The teacher’s warning is still in my ears, but in the past few years, the age of my patients has not only not decreased, but has increased.
Not long ago, a 95-year-old woman approached me for plastic surgery due to unilateral ptosis. Three days after the operation, her eyelids could be opened. She put on powder and lipstick, dressed neatly, and sat in my consultation room with high spirits. There is also a pair of sisters and brothers, the elder sister is 86 years old and the younger brother is 84 years old. After the face-lifting, the two brothers and sisters recovered very well. The older sister is a dance teacher and the younger brother is an engineer, and they both happily shouted that they would work for life.
For many diseases, such as cataracts, myocardial infarction, stroke and cancer, age is the greatest risk. In the past, I thought that “age” was also a risk of surgery, and my colleagues then accused me of plastic surgery for the elderly.
The question is: how old is it called old?
In today’s medical assessment of the risk of survival, visceral functions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, major diseases, and heart and lung functions are considered, and “age” will not be considered until the age of 80. Elderly people over 80 years old can measure grip strength, walking speed, hearing, vision, cognition, and assess whether they are aging. The risk does not increase in the elderly without aging.
If life is like a football game, age is just the number on the back of the jersey!
The current retirement system for the elderly originated in the 1880s, when German workers were attracted by high wages in the United States and moved out in large numbers. Chancellor Bismarck set up the welfare state system to guarantee workers’ life after retirement at the age of 50 (the average life expectancy at that time was 48 years).
In 1936, the United States started a social welfare system, setting retirement at the age of 65 (the average life expectancy at that time was 62 years), and giving subsidies to the elderly to avoid poverty and begging. According to data, only 5% of the population at that time would live to be 65 years old, and the average 65-year-old would only live another 5 years.
After reading the above history, it is not difficult to understand why the English old age (old age) is defined in Wikipedia as being able to survive to near or beyond the average lifespan.
Nielsen, a company specializing in marketing research, conducted an online survey of global consumers aged 12 to 65 in 2014 on the theme of “how old is called old”. Among Taiwanese respondents, 44% think 60 to 69 years old is called old (33% globally), 22% think 70 to 79 years old is old (28% globally), while only 8% of Taiwanese think that Older than 80 years old (the global proportion is 22%).
According to the “109-Year Simple Life Table” released by the Ministry of the Interior, the average life expectancy of Chinese people is 81.3 years (among which, men are 78.1 years old and women are 84.7 years old), setting a new high over the years. According to Nielsen’s statistics, Taiwanese feel old too early. The negative image of “old” affects people of mature age to delay retirement or find a job. It is no wonder that a domestic survey shows that 43% of office workers plan to retire before the age of 60.
Taiwan entered an aging society in 2018, and Japan’s “depraved old people” and “lonely death” have gradually emerged in Taiwan. We desperately need the correct concept of “oldness”.
How old are you called? Can you not get old?
Faced with the playoff of life, no matter what the government has to do, the concept of “no age” should be adopted in personal life.
“Ageless” is not to pretend to be young, but to believe in oneself, train oneself, maintain enthusiasm for life, develop one’s own abilities and experience, practice and dedicate, and strive for social dignity.
Ageless people, no matter how old, are not called old!
This article is from the book “The Challenge of Agelessness: Creating the Ideal Old Queen” by Aquarius Culture