Men Get Plastic Surgery

Story first appeared in the Los Angeles Times.

When this San Diego resident looked in the mirror, his nose looked like he could pick a door lock. It resembled a hook with a point on it.

So two years ago, the San Diego-based screenwriter underwent rhinoplasty to improve his profile and fix a deviated septum that had plagued him for almost 40 years.

The middle-aged man is now part of a trend that, in recent years, has seen increasing numbers of men seeking cosmetic surgery. In 2011, 9% of surgical and nonsurgical cosmetic procedures in the U.S. were conducted on men, according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery — a 121% increase since 1997.

While the number of cosmetic surgical procedures performed in the U.S. increased just 1% from 2010 to 2011, the number of males getting liposuction and eyelid surgeries is on the rise. More than 41,000 lipoplasty procedures and almost 23,000 eyelid surgeries were performed on men in 2011, increasing 14% and 6%, respectively.

Women in recent years have been trending toward minimally invasive cosmetic treatments such as Botox and Restalyne, but the fastest-growing cosmetic procedures for men are surgical. Liposuction tops the list of most common cosmetic surgical procedures performed on men, followed by rhinoplasty, eyelid surgery, male breast reduction and face-lifts.

In the past few years, plastic surgery is everywhere. All those nip-and-tuck shows have brought plastic surgery to a common ground.  The taboo is lifting for men lately.

As recently as a decade ago, patients would come in, have their surgery and hide for eight weeks. Nobody would talk about it. Now you have your surgery in the morning, and in the afternoon you're talking to your friends. It's become a much more acceptable commodity.

A combination of medical, technological, economic and societal factors are contributing to the increase. Advances in anesthesia, in particular, have made many procedures available on an outpatient basis, negating the need for overnight hospital stays, reducing recovery times and allowing patients to get back to work more quickly. Just 18% of cosmetic surgeries were performed in hospitals last year, according to the ASAPS. The prevalence of makeover shows on television, and the wealth of information available over the Internet, has also contributed to plastic surgery's acceptance.

But the largest driver of the trend is the simple fact that such a sizable portion of the U.S. population is aging. People ages 35 to 64 account for 71% of all cosmetic procedures in the U.S., the country with the largest number of cosmetic procedures performed, according to the 2011 International Study of Aesthetic/Cosmetic Surgery Procedures.

There's an increased trend of men over the last three or four years because of the economy. It's requiring that people look younger and more youthful. In the past, CEOs had to have a lot of gray hair. Now you see Mark Zuckerberg, these big entrepreneurs who are young. The reason eyelid and abdominal liposuction surgeries are so popular is because the eyelids and midsection are among the first parts of the body to show signs of age and among the most difficult to remedy without surgery.

That was the experience of a lipoplasty patient from Orange County.  He tried everything and just couldn't seem to lose the weight. For five years, he was embarrassed to wear a T-shirt because it revealed his fatty abdomen and chest. He had thought about lipo for five years and finally bit the bullet in November when he had the time and money.

There's a huge pressure on men to continue looking youthful. As a result, there's pressure on them to seek either surgical or nonsurgical procedures to maintain their youth.

For more healthcare and medical related news, visit the Healthcare and Medical blog.
For national and worldwide related business news, visit the Peak News Room blog.
For local and Michigan business related news, visit the Michigan Business News blog.
For law related news, visit the Nation of Law blog.
For real estate and home related news, visit the  Commercial and Residential Real Estate blog.
For technology and electronics related news, visit the Electronics America blog.
For organic SEO and web optimization related news, visit the SEO Done Right blog.