Plastic and cosmetic surgery procedures seem to appeal to women a great deal more than men. Women are expected to age with grace and can further enhance a youthful appearance with makeup. Between routine cosmetic procedures and wearing daily cosmetics, an older woman may look decades younger than her same-aged man.
According to the American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS), in 2011, women received 91.2% of all cosmetic surgical procedures in the US, while men received only 8.8% of total procedures performed—a very great disparity in numbers.
But an increasing number of men are taking back their bodies by exercising more control over their appearances. In 2011, according to the same ASAPS data, the 8.8% of total cosmetic procedures that men underwent equaled a whopping 800,000 treatments and surgeries—no small number by any means.
So which cosmetic procedures are men getting the most? The ASAPS reports that the top five treatments for men in 2011, in this order, were:
• Liposuction
• Rhinoplasty
• Eyelid surgery
• Breast reduction
• Facelift
Surprisingly, the top five cosmetic procedures for women reveal a somewhat similar list: breast augmentation, liposuction, tummy tuck, breast lift, and eyelid surgery. For injectable procedures, Botox was the number one treatment for both men and women, with men receiving 10% of total treatments and women accounting for the other 90%.
Below is a list of the top 10 cosmetic procedures for men in 2011 and a brief discussion of how each of these treatments can benefit men.
- Liposuction. Liposuction is a common body contouring procedure that removes unwanted fat deposits from stubborn areas. Liposuction is often performed alongside another body contouring surgery such as a tummy tuck to increase the desired results of the procedure. More men receive liposuction in conjunction with another procedure than they do as its own treatment.
- Rhinoplasty. Because the nose never stops growing throughout our entire lives, many older people elect to get rhinoplasty, better known as a nose job, to decrease their nose size and make it more proportional to the rest of the face. There are many other reasons to get a nose job, but for men, the most common one is to reproportion the face.
- Eyelid surgery. The effects of gravity and simple facial expressions repeated millions of times over the years eventually cause sagging skin to collect above and below the eyes. In some cases, this sagging skin begins to affect vision by constantly appearing in the periphery. Many older men choose this surgery to help improve their vision, on top of improving of their looks.
- Male breast reduction. Fat deposits naturally collect around the breast area. These may be welcomed by women but are abhorred by men. In many cases, a man who has undergone significant weight loss will follow up with a breast reduction surgery to remove excess fat and loose skin that can look like male breasts. This procedure is commonly combined with liposuction to enhance results.
- Facelift. A facelift can really help turn back the clock by tightening up the skin on the face, which reduces wrinkles, fine lines, and loose or sagging skin. Because a facelift targets the middle and lower portions of the face, the surgery is often combined with a brow or forehead lift, so that the entire facial look and tone is consistent.
- Ear surgery. Ears don’t keep growing the way noses do, but some people have much bigger ears than others. Women can hide disproportionate ears behind longer hair, but the typically shorter male haircuts and ball caps don’t do big ears any favors, and can even make them look bigger. Ear surgery reduces ear size and tucks ears against the head so they don’t stick out and are less noticeable.
- Tummy tuck. Women aren’t the only ones who have trouble keeping weight off the midsection. In fact, the beer guts and spare tires we hear about are more often attributed to men than women. Many active, healthy men who have firm or toned arms, legs, chest, and buttocks can’t seem to lose weight from the belly. A tummy tuck, often combined with liposuction, is designed to remove stubborn fat deposits and then tighten the skin and muscles around the abdomen. Tummy tucks are often performed on patients who’ve lost a lot of weight to help them get rid of the excess skin that was left behind.
- Fat transfer. In this procedure, fat is removed from one part of the body via liposuction and injected into another part of the body where volume enhancing is desired. Fat transfer gives patients the opportunity to better proportion their bodies by taking fat away from where it’s unwanted and moving it to a place where it’s needed.
- Brow/forehead lift. Because facelifts are fairly popular with men who receive cosmetic procedures, the brow lift becomes an add-on to create a true, total face lift by removing lines, wrinkles, and sagging skin from an area of the face that is usually significantly affected by age and gravity.
- Chin augmentation. A chin augmentation adds volume to a small or undefined chin. Some facial structures give a person the appearance of no chin at all, but fat transfer procedures can permanently add volume to the chin.