Men: aesthetics and the cult of youth

Men: aesthetics and the cult of youth

Men are rushing to beauty clinics! Wrinkle-smoothing injections and face contouring, liposuction, eyelid plastic, and implants – members of the “stronger sex” want to be attractive and feel desirable too.

Shave quickly and splash on some au de cologne – a decade ago, this was enough for a man to feel attractive. However, stereotypes change fast. Nowadays much more is expected from men. They, too, want to be glamorous, attractive, good-looking and preserve their youthful appearance for as long as possible. That’s why increasing numbers of them follow health care and beauty innovations and go for the most diverse beauty procedures, explains Jelena Romanova-Paškevič, a doctor of plastic and reconstructive surgery at the Medical Diagnostic and Treatment Centre.

Becoming attractive both to themselves and to others

“I’d like to be attractive.” Such was a wish the doctor heard a few years ago from a well-known businessman who came to her for a consultation. During the conversation, the sixty-year-old let it slip that he felt compelled to apply to a beauty specialist because of a situation in his working environment. The businessman confessed that there were a lot of young, intelligent, and good-looking people working in the business he ran, so he would feel better if he were… at least a little more attractive!

Doctor Romanova-Paškevič says that the man had his face contours corrected and wrinkle-smoothing and moisturizing injections administered. The patient was so happy with the outcome that now he visits the beauty specialist every year.

“To tell the truth, we don’t transform everyone into a beauty. After the procedures, the person simply becomes more attractive to themselves and to others; they start feeling better about themselves, and their quality of life improves too,” said the doctor of plastic and reconstructive surgery.

I don’t want a wrinkled forehead

Generally, men come to beauty and aesthetics specialists and plastic surgeons when they want to improve their appearance or solve the issue of increased perspiration.

Men who care about their appearance usually want to remove those age-adding facial wrinkles or remove the fat that impairs their body silhouette. These procedures are very popular primarily among women. The doctor believes that the choice of these procedures is partially determined by them being minimally invasive and performed quickly, while the results are quickly obvious.

The wishes of men and women who apply for facial aesthetic procedures are different. Dr. Jelena Romanova-Paškevič says that women generally want to correct the facial contours, e.g. to augment the lips, remove the wrinkles between the nose and the corner of the mouth, etc. Men are more concerned with age-betraying face wrinkles, especially those set in the forehead. To smooth down smaller wrinkles, specialists generally suggest hyaluronic or botulin toxin injections, whereas deeper ones are filled with special fillers.

The results depend on the patient too

The doctor cannot console patients who are afraid of needles and pain. The majority of beauty procedures would be more or less painful if anesthesia wasn’t used before them. For this purpose, injections of analgesics or special ointments are used. This notwithstanding, as the saying goes, there’s no gain without pain. The procedures don’t take long, and the results achieved to justify the slightly unpleasant sensations experienced by the patients.

It depends on the procedure of how fast the results become visible. With beauty injections, the results might be apparent instantaneously and improve with every day, reaching their full potential within a couple of weeks. In the case of a non-invasive procedure, e.g., a laser skin rejuvenation procedure, one might have to wait for the best results for a few weeks. If the patient has undergone a more complex beauty operation, e.g. an eyelid correction operation, the result will be visible in a month or two and will become fully visible after six months or a year.

Subject to the materials used, the effect of beauty injections might vary and last from six months to four years. For example, with a balanced diet and sports, the results of liposuction might bring joy to the patient right up until the end of their lives.

The doctor noted that the results of any procedure also depend on the patient. Before applying to plastic surgeons about external beauty, you should also take care of your general health. Beauty and health are inseparable. The surgeon believes that only a healthy person is beautiful. In order to always look beautiful, to be healthy, and feel well, it’s not enough to solve existing problems by surgery and injections. It’s necessary to change your lifestyle, to be more active, to eat more healthily, and find time to rest. Only then will the results of the beauty procedures bring long-lasting joy.

The same procedures but with differences

The same aesthetic procedures can be performed for women and men. However, the method of performance or materials used can differ due to the skin structure of men and women and the natural differences of the body.

Dr. Romanova-Paškevič says that, for instance, the plastic operation of droopy upper eyelids for men and women differs. This operation is performed for men seeking not only to eliminate an aesthetic problem but also to retain the specific masculine features of the face.

Furthermore, the materials selected for beauty injections may also differ. To smooth down a female forehead, botulin toxin injections often suffice, whereas the wrinkles in male foreheads are set deeper and require special fillers to smooth them down.

For each patient, the procedures and most suitable materials to perform them are chosen individually. Generally, the men want to look nicer, younger, and without anyone being any the wiser, says Doctor Jelena Romanova-Paškevič. She stressed that this is a test of the specialist’s skill.

Perspiration can be overcome by special injections

Very often, men, especially entrepreneurs as well as those who deal with large audiences – lecturers, training moderators or representatives of other professions who cannot, in their work, avoid tension or emotion accompanied by copious perspiration, are brought to the beauty clinic by constant and tiresome perspiration under the arms, feet, and palms. The doctor says that first of all the cause of the increased perspiration is established.

If it is not associated with illnesses but is rather a functional cause, it can be overcome with botulin toxin injections.

These significantly reduce or stop the perspiration completely for six months or even longer.

Botulin toxin injections are not risky, according to the doctor, Jelena Romanova-Paškevič. Allergic reactions occur very rarely. For a very small number of patients (2-3%), botulin toxin injections are not effective. In such cases, other ways to reduce the perspiring have to be sought.

Men submit to women but not their wives

Generally, men who find themselves constantly among other people and have to look impeccable all the time are those who apply to the beauty specialists. Often they are representatives of the entertainment world, whose appearance is their business card and whose success largely depends on it.

The doctor said that individuals of varying ages seek her assistance. Although more mature men require the advice and help of beauty specialists more often, they get both 30-year-olds and 60-year-olds. For example, it has been noticed that the need to get rid of aging wrinkles or to correct one’s body forms appear from around the age of 35 years. More mature men are compelled to visit beauty clinics by reduced self-esteem: exhausted by everyday stresses, men feel old, tired, and losing their competitive edge at work and in their personal life.

Sometimes men are encouraged to push open the door of the beauty clinic by friends or relatives who have already successfully used this specialist assistance. It also happens that wives bring their husbands. Doctor Jelena Romanova-Paškevič noted that men brought by their wives are the least motivated to do something. Quite often, they don’t hide their incomprehension as to why their spouse wants them to change something. 

Naturally, it’s best when men come to the beauty specialists on their own initiative. Usually, they have already read about the procedures and services that interest them, and they know and understand what and why they want to change and what results they expect. Some come just to confer and get answers to the questions that concern them, to consult about the possibilities of performing a certain procedure and attaining the desired results.

Sometimes men come encouraged by friends. Nowadays, plastic surgery is no longer taboo; people talk about the beauty procedures they’ve had performed and discuss them in meetings with friends or at parties. However, most often men discuss this not among themselves but with women who they feel closest to, says Doctor Jelena Romanova-Paškevič.

Muscly arms and a sexy jawline – not necessarily gifted by nature

Chest augmented by special implants or improved buttocks – these operations are generally ascribed to women. However, men are also not averse to improving their appearance by implants like these. Men don’t tend to be open about having corrected the shapes of their calves, arms, or buttocks with silicone.

Doctor Jelena Romanova-Paškevič says that men invoke silicone implants to augment their biceps as well as to accentuate their jawbone and cheeks. The truth is that silicone is implanted not just for beauty reasons. Such implants also improve the quality of life for people whose muscles have atrophied due to disease or sustained traumas.

The result is more important than the price

According to the doctor, the desire to look beautiful all of the time is also an outcome of upbringing. A young man who has been brought up to pay sufficient attention to his aesthetic appearance since his teens will not want to neglect himself at any stage of his life whether it’s a pimpled face or droopy eyelids that make it hard to see what’s happening around him or a saggy stomach.

It’s important to make boys understand from their teens that they have to consult specialists about any aesthetic problems. Good quality face care and body care products recommended by knowledgeable specialists also have to be selected from the days of youth rather than using anything underhand.

Many of those who would like to change or improve something in their appearance are concerned about the procedures’ prices. Doctor Jelena Romanova-Paškevič says that the prices of beauty procedures are not negligent, all the more so because Lithuanian beauty specialists are in no way inferior to their colleagues working in western countries where the beauty industry has been established for so long. It is understood that a beauty clinic is not a barber’s shop we visit on a monthly basis; that’s why the prices here are higher, the plastic surgeon says. However, the knowledge that the result attained after a beauty procedure will improve the quality of life and allow us to feel better makes the price not the most important factor.