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Key Points
- More men seeking aesthetic procedures wish to appear younger to compete in workplace
- Men have thicker skin than women, which influences the choice of which injectable to use
- Male cosmetic procedure patients tend to seek treatment 10 to 15 years later than women
The aging process does not discriminate based on gender, and more and more men are opting to minimize the evidence of this equal-opportunity exploiter. According to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS), cosmetic procedures for men increased 88 percent from 1997 through 2010; men had more than 750,000 cosmetic procedures in 2010 alone.
Surgeons interviewed for this article say that the pressure to remain professionally relevant in a competitive economic market is high on the list of reasons why men are warming up to cosmetic procedures.
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A male patient before (left) and after receiving Juvéderm to balance out the lip, Artefill in the tear troughs, layered Artefill and Radiesse in the cheeks/malar area, upper and lower eyelid blepharoplasty and fractional CO2 skin resurfacing. (Photos credit: Gregory Laurence, M.D.)
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"More men seeking plastic surgery want to appear younger to compete in the workplace, not necessarily for beauty," says Washington facial plastic surgeon Houtan Chaboki, M.D. Approximately one-fourth of his patients are male, and many have high-profile media and political positions.
"Some working men who actually feel full of energy have the perception that others at work may see them as older and less adaptable to change in a fast-moving economy," he says. "These professional men seek plastic surgery not necessarily to improve their looks, but rather to portray a more youthful vigor, along with their maturity and experience." The use of injectables for volume restoration and wrinkle reduction is a popular choice for men who want the effects of rejuvenation, but without the look of overnight change that is often associated with facial surgery. Cosmetic surgeon Gregory Laurence, M.D., of Germantown Aesthetics in Memphis, Tenn., says the number of men getting Botox (onabotulinumtoxinA, Allergan) injections at his practice has doubled over the past three years.
"In my experience, males who seek Aesthetic improvement with injectables fall along a bimodal curve. They are either older than age 55 with the recognition that they have had significant cosmetic deterioration, or they are younger than age 30, Internet-educated men who tend to be more concerned about looks and more knowledgeable about the available options," Dr. Laurence says.
