Plastic surgery has undergone a change lately. When I started training in surgery 15 years ago, I only met a few men who wanted to go under the knife. Plastic surgery was the domain of young women working on their bodies and women over 35 refreshing their faces. The men collected their wives and girlfriends after the procedures. They themselves kept away from the operating room.
Not anymore. Last year, more than 1,000,000 men underwent plastic surgery procedures, according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. The number is growing: I see more and more men every month. Sports Illustrated now meets Vogue on the magazine rack of our California plastic surgery center.
Men are turning to plastic surgery to feel better, look younger, and help them with their careers. But just as men are from Mars and women are from Venus in relationships, they are also different when it comes to plastic surgery. With the wrong procedures, or the right procedures done the wrong way, men end up looking less like they did when they were in college and more like their college-age daughters.
Where women tend to go for lifts, men lean more towards reshaping and contouring. Nationwide, the top three surgical procedures for men are liposuction, rhinoplasty (nose job), and blepharoplasty (eyelid surgery). Men also go for Botox and skin treatments.
Even fit guys have love handles that tend to scream “flabbiness.” These areas can usually be removed with liposuction. Similarly, many men I see complain of fullness in the chest (and I don’t mean pecs here) which diminishes their masculine appearance. Liposuction also provides excellent results here. This surgery can help restore the abs that men had in college.
Liposuction often provides desired results that often cannot be achieved in the gym. Localized fat deposits that are difficult to remove with exercise present attractive targets for liposuction. I had a patient who nicknamed my liposuction machine his “mechanical personal trainer.” Results like this are further enhanced when men return to the gym after their procedures. The procedure can also be especially useful for the male breast.
Like rings on a tree trunk, the lines reveal our age. In men, they tend to develop around the eyes and forehead. When treated early, Botox smooths out fine lines on the face. By weakening the small facial muscles, it stops the constant pulling that leads to lines in the overlying skin. Although the results only last between three and six months, the changes seem very impressive.
When fine lines around the eyes turn into true wrinkles, eyelid surgery turns back the clock. By removing excess skin and fat from the upper or lower eyelid, men look refreshed without changing their overall appearance.
Men have different goals than women when seeking plastic surgery. And its distinctive anatomy means that simply offering the same procedure to men as to women will leave men dissatisfied with the results.
Plastic surgery is no longer just for women. Men have great results, just like women. But their bodies, goals and temperaments are different. Therefore, the correct procedures, performed in the correct manner, must be selected to give men the results they are seeking.
