14 DAY TRIAL // At the beginning of the year, plastic surgeons in the US were saying that the number of procedures had taken a serious hit because of the poor economy. At the same time, figures released by the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) showed things were different in the UK, plastic surgical interventions in men almost doubling over the period of a year. The trend continues, with “moob” surgery being one of the most demanded interventions, BBC says.
Men are looking to improve their appearance and, now more than ever, they’re willing to go under the knife to fix what nature or old age has ruined. Surgery on the breasts (known pejoratively as “moobs”) has become ever so popular, with countless men willing to pay on average £2,000 for more chiseled pecs instead of flabby skin. This also goes to show that men are learning to look at the practicality of the surgery instead of being prejudiced against.
As a matter of fact, they are becoming so inhibited about the procedure, that the number of demands for it has gone up by 1,000 percent over the last five years, becoming the fifth most demanded intervention by British men. Between 2007 and 2008, the rise was smaller, but still significant, of 44 percent.
“We are seeing men of all ages coming in to have their breasts made smaller. They are losing their inhibitions about the operation and deciding to undergo an operation which previously was a women’s operation.” plastic surgeon Douglas McGeorge said at the conference held in Cardiff, as quoted by the BBC.
Age was not a limit either for the men who came to the doctor’s asking for the “moob” surgery, McGeorge also said, adding that he even had a grandfather who had never taken off his T-shirt (not even at the beach) asking for a reduction. Still, men in the UK who go under the knife prefer having some sort of work done on the nose, eyes and ears, or liposuction. Breast surgery pushed out facelifts from the top of men’s preferences in the last year, it was also revealed.
“Reasons for the upsurge include men being more open now about their physique than years ago. And they can get more and more information about it from Internet sites which encourage them to have the op.” surgeon Fazel Fatah revealed at the same conference. In total, members of the BAAPS operated on 323 men in 2008, which accounts only for a third of those who had surgery for cosmetic reasons in the same period in the UK.