The men in my waiting room used to be there for their wives. They held the purse and read the magazines.
Now they have their own appointment. And they have a list.
“In my practice, the most common procedure I perform in men is gynecomastia surgery. That is number one. Number two is liposuction, which usually involves the abdomen and the lower back, but sometimes it is extended to the neck, upper back, lateral chest and even the breast itself. Number three is eyelid surgery. Number four is rhinoplasty, which is very common in younger men.”
Then the one that is new.
“Last but not least, facelifts and neck lifts have become more and more common in men, especially with the GLP-1s. The face loses fat fast, and it is one of the most noticeable changes as a patient is losing their weight. They also look older from the loss of volume.”
Chest, waist, eyes, nose, face. I have written the gynecomastia story already, including the price, so this is about the other four, and about what changes in my hands when the patient is a man.
Nobody asks that question, and it is the interesting one.
“Although the techniques and the surgeries are pretty much the same in men and women, there are some specific changes. Most men want to appear more masculine, so the procedures are modified to achieve this desire.”
Start with the brow. “When we do facelifts, we do not like to raise the brow as much. In men, it should pretty much line up with the superior orbital rim.” A few millimeters too high and a man does not look rested. He looks startled, for good.
Then the hair, or the lack of it. “We also have to modify where the incisions lie so that they can be easily hidden, depending on whether the patient has lost hair in the scalp, including at the sideburn and temple.” A woman’s facelift scar disappears into a hairline. A man’s has to be planned around the hairline he will have at sixty.
The nose. “Male rhinoplasty is usually a more masculine, closed rhinoplasty aiming for a straight dorsum, the Roman style. We want to avoid the curved dorsum and the more projected, refined tip.” Nobody wants a pretty nose on a man. They want a straight one.
The waist. “In liposuction, it is more likely that we will perform etching to show off the abdominal muscles and the six-pack during liposuction. Sometimes we add fat grafting to the pectoralis major muscle to increase the size of the muscle itself, or even the biceps. For this we can use the patient’s own fat or alloClae.”
And the part men never think to ask about. “When we do buttock fat grafting in men, we usually skip fat grafting to the hips, because we want to avoid a feminine curvature and instead project the gluteus maximus muscle.”
People assume I spend the male consult talking men out of things. I do not.
“I don’t think I’ve actually encountered many situations where I have to talk somebody out of a procedure. Oftentimes they don’t come in wanting a specific procedure, they come in with a problem and a consultation on how we can fix it.”
The under-eye bag is the classic. He asks for a blepharoplasty. “Many think it is just a blepharoplasty, but I use the blepharoplasty approach to remove the fat bags, I use fat injections into the tear trough, and I use Morpheus8 microneedling with radiofrequency to tighten the skin. Sometimes I even use AccuTite to tighten the skin, avoiding an incision that can give you a visible scar, or even an ectropion.”
He came in with a procedure. He leaves with a plan.
And the wave behind all of it is the pen. “I think the GLP-1s are actually increasing the amount of demand we see in the office for consultations. The first thing patients notice is the deflation on the face.” Then the body catches up. “The patient feels better and is healthier, but the body, with the loose skin, is not showing that externally. So many men are coming in for gynecomastia and tummy tucks.”
“Men are getting healthier, slimmer, and ready for their bodies to match the way they feel.”
The prices for every one of these are published, and the full ranked list with what I do differently is on the male plastic surgery hub. The one procedure I left out of this post has its own.
Call (915) 590-7900, text 1-866-814-0038, or book at agulloplasticsurgery.com. #StayBeautiful
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