It is no longer just women who make up the patients at cosmetic surgery clinics. Young men are now routinely having necklift, facelift, liposuction and many other cosmetic procedures to go with the latest clothing trends. In fact, it is even more socially acceptable now for men to pluck their eyebrows and wax their body hair. There is a shift in attitudes towards aesthetics that is resulting in more men feeling the desire to make use of cosmetic procedures to look younger and feel happier with what they see in the mirror. There has been a sharp increase in the percentage of total cosmetic procedures performed on men over the past 15 years.
Popular procedures
Men under 40 are most likely to opt for procedures which defy the signs of ageing</a>, like the necklift, or improve their physique, like liposuction in areas like the chest and waistline. Older men, meanwhile, tend to have facelifts. The greatest increase has come in the form of less invasive procedures like Botox injections and fillers. There is also an uptick of men getting laser hair removal on their torso, and finding value in the use of skincare products. Hair transplants are also increasing, and some men are even going through painful and expensive leg-lengthening surgery to increase their height.
So why the increase?
Predictably, it is most commonlymen with low self-esteem who are considering cosmetic procedures, particularly if they have specific issues that are making them unhappy. There appears to be an increase in men having low self-esteem due to poor body image, perhaps due to the increase in super-hero movies and social media influencers flaunting their physiques (though this is just speculation). That said, women and men shouldn’t necessarily start worrying about their male partner’s self-esteem just because they’re considering cosmetic surgery – everyone has their own reasons.
In fact, it is often women who make the first appointment on behalf of their partner. Or, a man attends his partner’s consultation for her cosmetic procedure and gets a glimpse of what he could have done for himself, and it ignites his interest. In some cases, it isn’t about aesthetics; getting one’s nose done may help with breathing, for example. If your partner is showing an interest in a cosmetic procedure and you want to be supportive, you can help by collecting information about the best plastic surgeons. Be discrete, and don’t spread the word around your peer group – let him take the lead on that.
Men becoming more conscious of their appearance and taking an interest in looking their best is resulting in a more healthy balance between the genders, and cosmetic surgery is an integral part of that.