According to Dr. Barry Weintraub, a board-certified plastic surgeon practicing in the heart of New York, more men are exploring plastic surgery solutions to address concerns they might have about their appearance.
What is motivating this increase? Maybe the same cultural, social, and professional factors that are also moving them to embrace hair color (to camouflage gray) or hair toppers (to create a fuller head of hair).
And like the rest of the population, people are expected to live longer, so why not experiment with skincare to address signs of aging or makeup to get their glow going? These same factors —a competitive job market, an aging population, social media’s influence–are driving women’s choices, too, but there are some trends on the wane, as Dr. Weintraub lays out for us here.
Dr. Barry Weintraub, recently named one of “America’s Best Plastic Surgeons in 2023” by Newsweek.
Photo Credit: DBW Photography
Six New Surgical Trends
“The first three trends involve male patients,” says Dr. Weintraub. “In a way, one could say that the marked increase in plastic surgery for men is a trend in itself. While there still exists somewhat of a public social stigma regarding men and plastic surgery, there has been a true removal of private stigma.
“In other words, guys are entirely comfortable seeking plastic surgery as long as they know the results will be natural and undetectable in terms of exhibiting any hallmarks of surgery, such as obvious incisions. In my practice, male surgery has increased over the past year by over 40%. Guys want to look their best not just for personal improvement, but also in terms of competing in the workplace.”
ONE: Male blepharoplasty, explains Dr. Weintraub, is becoming extremely popular. “Just like with female patients, male patients don’t want to look tired. Female patients have the ability to camouflage undereye circles and puffy lower lids with makeup, but guys don’t have this resource.”
Bags under the eyes, states Dr. Weintraub, are formed by an excess of lower eyelid fat pads that are either genetically based or are caused by the lower-eyelid skin no longer possessing the collagen and elastin that keep this fat contained, allowing the fat to push forward.
“The solution to this problem is a transconjunctival (from the back, or pink side, of the eyelid) lower-eyelid blepharoplasty, where the fat is removed without any visible incisions. If the lower-eyelid skin is wrinkled or saggy, a laser can provide tightening without incisions.” If the upper eyelids are heavy, Dr. Weintraub removes this excess skin with an incision sewn with suture material as fine as a human hair. The incision is placed low on the lid so it becomes virtually invisible once healed. “I wear magnifying loupes for all of my surgeries,” he explains, “like what a jeweler wears when working on fine watches. They allow me to see 5x human vision.”
TWO: Male neck lifting is the second trend. “Age manifests first in the eyes and the neck, and a sagging neck is emphasized by a collar and tie,” states Dr. Weintraub. There are two approaches to eliminating the dreaded “turkey neck”: removing the excess skin via an incision hidden in the back of the ear, or removing the excess skin and snugging the neck via a fine incision hidden under the chin. “When a man has a razor-sharp jaw,” says Dr. Weintraub, “he not only looks better, but he feels better about himself and has a tendency to present himself with more confidence.”
Image by Roberto Lee Cortes from Pixabay
THREE: The third trend is scarless gynecomastia surgery. Gynecomastia is a condition commonly nicknamed “man boobs.” It is caused either by genetics, or sometimes it is attributed to certain medications that create excess tissue of the male breast. “In the past, many guys didn’t realize that surgery was available to eradicate this condition. Now, however, guys are realizing that there is a very effective cure. By using special basket cannulas (not liposuction cannulas) that have blades on the tip, I can – without any incisions around the nipple-areola complex – extract all of the fat and male-breast tissue (also called ‘the gland’) – via a tiny 1/64-inch dot located in the armpit.” The recovery time for this procedure is very quick, allowing a patient to return to remote/computer work the next day, and office work after just three days.
FOUR: The next trend is the decrease in brow lifting in female patients.
“Quite frankly,” says Dr. Weintraub, “I never understood why people thought that brows located halfway up the forehead looked natural, attractive, or young. If you look at attractive, youthful faces, the brows sit naturally on the browbone. If someone wants to look better, a slight lateral lift (meaning, toward the outer edge of the brows), can help to combat any droopiness that comes with age. But lifting the brow in the middle only creates a very odd aesthetic, causing someone to look perennially surprised.”
Rather than brow lifting, patients are now opting for carefully placed Botox to provide this lateral lift. The Botox helps to raise the outer edge of the brow, creating a pretty arc that is much more natural-looking, according to Dr. Weintraub.
FIVE: The hybrid facelift trend is along the same lines as a browlift in that it pertains to wanting a more natural and attractive aesthetic result. “Patients always say to me, ‘I don’t like the way I look as I get older, but I’m afraid of a facelift because I don’t want to look fake.’ Think of the face and neck in three separate layers,” says Dr. Weintraub, “Old-style facelifts pulled all three layers with the same tension. You can create this weird look by taking your hands and pulling your face back. Notice how the mouth widens, the nose splays, and the cheeks look too tight.”
The secret, according to Dr. Weintraub, is to suspend these three different layers with different amounts of tension. The deep-plane (the deepest layer) is addressed to correct the marionette lines (from the corner of the mouth to the chin and jowls); the SMAS lift corrects the sagging neck, and the subcutaneous lift allows a natural, gentle lift to the midface. “If you lie flat on your back and hold a mirror above your face,” he explains, “this gentle, hybrid tri-planar lift can be mimicked by gravity, allowing for the tissues to drape naturally.
SIX: The last trend is that the popularity of the “Instagram nose” is declining. “I have fortunately seen a decrease in young patients wanting a highly stylized nose, no matter their own natural features. I was never one to create this type of result because my hallmark is to create very natural, understated results, and the ‘Instagram nose’ is just the opposite. Of all the features on the face, the nose is a benchmark of someone’s identity, and all aspects of the face must be considered to create a result that looks flawless, with a keen eye toward natural beauty. Patients are now much more interested in what will look good not just 10 months from now, but 10 years from now.”
ABOUT Dr. Barry Weintraub: A regular recipient of the titles “Best Plastic Surgeons in America” and “Best Doctors in New York” by Castle Connolly, Dr. Weintraub holds in high regard the ideals he was taught at Cornell, both in medical school as well as his plastic-surgical fellowship, during a time when patient care and compassion were almost religiously revered.
Dr. Weintraub believes that physicians should be welcoming and respectful and must never lose sight that it’s a sacred privilege to operate on another human being. Each patient is a person possessing real-life issues and concerns.
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