The choice to have the surgery is really up to who can afford it. I don't promote radical cosmetic surgery. However, if some procedure is going to make a person feel a little better about himself or herself then go for it. I'm a Gen-Xer and male. I have considered surgery, but mine are for the things younger people get it for. Being made fun of as a kid for something that was just not like the other kids. Like a large nose, ears that stick out, weak jaw or for the girls the same things adding breast implants. However, I do wish we could all just be happy with how we look. My generation and Gen-Y are under increasing pressure from media to look perfect in every way. We are younger like the people in the ads and the celebrities so our issues with cosmetic surgery are a little different than the Greatest Generation.
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What Wrinkles?
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Botox remains the most popular nonsurgical procedure for both men and women. But the ASPS and the ASAPS also report large increases in the number of men getting microdermabrasion treatments, as well as Restylane, Radiance and other wrinkle fillers over the past few years. The number of microdermabrasion procedures performed on men more than doubled between 2000 and 2006, when more than one in five patients was male. Wrinkle fillers were introduced more recently, but surgeons report that the number of treatments given to men increased by more than 66 percent between 2005 and 2006. Many who start with those end up getting surgery eventually, according to surgeons. Ron, a 64-year-old business executive at a food manufacturing company in Los Angeles, had a laser peel in April. Then he decided to have eyelid surgery and a neck lift. Now, he plans to kick off 2008 with a face-lift. "I didn't think I'd do this when I was younger," he says. "But I'm more mature now, and I want to feel better about myself." (Ron didn't want his last name publicized; so it seems there's still some stigma for men who get plastic surgery.)
Wrinkles used to make a man more "distinguished," while a little extra weight around the middle seemed a rite of passage for married middle-aged men and a sign of a well-fed husband. Not so in today's youth-oriented, age-defying society. "Men are now feeling the pressure that women were feeling before," says Nahai. "They think, `Unless I look young, I won't be able to compete in the marketplace'."
That was the case for Alan Horowitz, a 59-year-old residential realtor from Morristown, N.J., who considered his $20,000 mini-face-lift an investment. "When you feel good about the way you look, it changes your whole personality, your whole outlook on life, and how people perceive you," he says. "You have two minutes to connect with a client. You want to look as sharp and good as you can."
Whether that requires a cosmetic procedure is debatable: though the number of male patients has risen, only a small percentage of all adult American men went under the knife or needle in 2006. Still, as baby boomers age, there's a good chance there will be many more men like Goldgram and Horowitz who decide cosmetic procedures are no longer just an option for the fairer sex.
© 2008
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