As cosmetic surgery evolves, more and more men are considering elective procedures to “lift” their spirits and meet their need to look young and toned. Are men the next frontier of the facelift?
BY Ruchel Louis Coetzee PHOTOGRAPHS by Travis Rathbone; GROOMING by Lydia Foster; PROP STYLING by ariana salvato
Does the world of cosmetic surgery truly belong to women? One might assume so, considering the disproportionate amount of news coverage and water cooler banter focused on women’s eye tucks and nose jobs. However, according to the 2010 American Plastic Surgery report, men’s facelifts are decidedly on the rise. In fact, Newsweek recently reported that 10 percent of men would seriously consider cosmetic surgery to boost their career. “To say that men aren’t vain is an unbelievably huge statement—one that’s incorrect,” says Dr. Brian Novack, board certified plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills. “There are four face lifts on my desk right now—two of them are women, two of them are men. Both of the men are multi-, multi-billionaires. One has had a wife for a long time. The other guy is a good 20 years older than his girlfriend, and she obviously loves him. Why do they want to do face surgery? Vanity.”
The different types of facial surgery are facelift, blepharoplasty (or eye lift), neck lift or liposuction of the facial area, and rhinoplasty (or nose job). The most frequently requested facelift for men is focused on the neck and lower jawline. “Gravity is still going to China; pulling things backwards is not how you’re aging,” says Dr. Novack. “When you tighten the face in a vertical component, the neck automatically lifts up. By tightening the face, your neck completely takes care of itself, so the latest thing is full vertical lifting.”
“Everyone has natural creases,” says Dr. Silich. “For a man, you have to really be careful and look exactly where the crease is near the sideburn and behind the ear.” Most men are afraid of looking pulled and unnatural.
Therefore, they’ll just ask for a neck lift. It takes a bit of counseling on the part of the doctor to explain the bigger picture. “Some guys can have a very saggy face and a very saggy neck, and if you just fix the neck he’s going to look silly,” Silich says. “He’ll have this beautiful, sculpted jawline, but then he has these bags under his eyes.
Blepharoplasty in general is very feminizing, so you have to be very conservative with a man. With the upper eyelid, you can really change the shape of the eye, whereas in the lower eyelids you’re really just getting rid of big, heavy bags or sagging skin.” What about the pain? “It’s not painful,” says Dr Silich. “Most people take Tylenol alone.
There’s a little discomfort because you have the bandage, and most people say the sensation is ‘tight.’” If a facial surgery is painful, it usually means something is wrong. Rhinoplasty and liposuction can be painful, but facial work is primarily about moving the skin. Pain will depend upon how much loose skin a man has.
