Having Surgery?

If you're scheduling a surgery in the near future, you might want to consider avoiding both young surgeons - - and old ones.

According to U.S News & World Report, researchers in France found that surgeons aged 35 to 50 provide the safest care for patients. The results showed that patients have a higher risk of permanent problems when their procedure is performed by an inexperienced surgeon -- or by one with 20 or more years of experience.

The thought is that surgeons just can't maintain exceptional performance decade after decade. Eventually, they start to lose their motivation for excellence -- and their expert physical edge.