Male surgeons ‘best looking doctors’

MALE surgeons are the alpha males of the medical world, exhibiting brains, talent and sexiness, according to research which finds they are taller and more handsome than other doctors.

A study, published in the British Medical Journal, set out to test whether real surgeons lived up to their counterparts on the big and small screens.

Using Hollywood star and former TV surgeon on ER George Clooney as a control or reference point to determine good looks, the researchers found that surgeons were “statistically significantly” more handsome than other doctors.

The study isn’t exactly scientific, more of a tongue- in-cheek project by doctors at the University of Barcelona’s Hospital Clinic.

Antoni Trilla, MD, and colleagues recalled that in medical school, their most handsome, tallest male classmates tended to become surgeons. So they asked 24 male doctors, including 12 surgeons, at their hospital for their snapshots and height measurements.

The team showed the photos to eight women working at the hospital (three doctors and five nurses). The women rated the male doctors’ appearance on a scale of one to seven points, with one being “ugly” and seven being “very good looking”.

When it came to height, surgeons towered above the physicians by an average of seven centimetres — 179.4cm (just under 6ft) compared with 172.6cm (about 5ft 9in).

Surgeons scored an average of 4.39 on the attractive-o-meter, while physicians came in at 3.65.

But the bad news for surgeons and physicians was that both failed to live up to the good looks of their film and TV counterparts, who scored 5.96. They also found insignificant differences between film stars who played either surgeons or physicians.

For comparison, the researchers included pictures of Harrison Ford, who played a brain surgeon in the film The Fugitive, George Clooney when he was a regular on the TV show ER, Patrick Dempsey, who plays a surgeon on the TV show Grey’s Anatomy and Hugh Laurie, who plays a doctor on the TV show House. The actors scored nearly six out of seven points on the good-looks scale.

The researchers said that being taller had “several evolutionary advantages” for surgeons. “Their extra height makes them more likely to be masters and commanders, and gives them a better view of the operating room, including the patient lying on the table,” they said.

The researchers said surgeons spent a lot of time in operating rooms, which are cleaner, cooler and have a higher oxygen content than the average medical ward, which could help them keep their looks. They also wear protective surgical masks and clog-type shoes, which adds 2-3cm to their perceived height.

Top docs

* George Clooney was the TV surgeon the real ones were rated against. He and his scalpel cut a dash on ER.

* In The Fugitive, Dr Richard Kimble, played by Harrison Ford, is a neurosurgeon on the run from the police.

* American heart-throb Patrick Dempsey plays neurosurgeon Dr Derek Shepherd in the TV series Grey’s Anatomy.

* “Hawkeye,” played by Alan Alda in TV series M*A*S*H, was a skilled surgeon also known for his drinking and carousing.

* The dashing, 6’ 1/2” Hugh Laurie plays Dr Gregory House on the hit American drama “House.”