Curse of the moob ... why plastic surgery for men is booming in Scotland
SPECIAL REPORT
BY BRIDGET MORRIS
FROM man boobs and love handles to big noses and sticking-out ears, cosmetic surgery for men is booming in Scotland. What began as pioneering surgery for soldiers who had sustained horrific injuries in the First World War has become a huge business, available on the high street, for those who want to fix their perceived physical imperfection.
The most recent statistics show that the number of men undergoing cosmetic surgery has doubled in the past decade, from 2,440 in 2005 to 4,614 in 2015. The figures from industry body the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) show that one in ten procedures are now carried out on men.
One of the most popular is gynaecomastia – male breast reduction – costing around £3,000. Almost 800 men underwent the procedure last year, a rise of 13 per cent from the previous year.
Hundreds of men also opted for liposuction, facelifts, nose jobs, eyelid surgery, brow lifts and ear correction.
Figures for every available procedure were up by between 10 per cent and 15 per cent, year on year.
Almost 1,000 men had blepharoplasty (eyelid surgery) costing around £1,500 in 2015, up 15 per cent from 2014. The number of invasive liposuction procedures rose to 586 – 20 per cent up in twelve months.
BAAPS does not provide regional figures but plastic surgeons in Glasgow and Edinburgh say there is also increasing demand among men in Scotland.
Consultant plastic surgeon Vivek Sivarajan, who heads up the Elanic clinic in Glasgow, said: “The percentage of the Scottish market that is male has increased year on year for the last four years – not just on the surgical side, but also the non-surgical.
“Men are much more likely to have Botox injections and facial fillers. Also, men are more likely now to get skin care. Men are much more image conscious now. The main procedure men get is gynaecomastia – or man boobs – liposuction, and eyelids. In terms of gynaecomastia, these are mainly young guys, often those that go to gym.
“Male breast development is surprisingly common and they maybe can’t get their chest as flat as they’d like.”
Consultant plastic surgeon Ken Stewart, who has been practising for 14 years, said there had also been a steady increase in the number of men seeking cosmetic surgery at his clinic at Spire’s Edinburgh hospital at Murrayfield.
“I’d say 20 per cent in my practice are men,” he said. “The industry is still heavily dominated by women but there has been a gradual increase, year on year. Men look for correction of ears and noses. More often they are coming for facelifts. We also see a lot of man boobs. Many seek treatments following weight loss because they are left with skin laxity. When people have bariatric (obesity) surgery they feel a lot better about themselves, but they often need skin tightening.
“The beneficial psychological effects are huge. Plastic surgery is about self-confidence. A lot of people have little hang-ups about their ears, noses or man boobs. By removing that barrier you allow them to kick-start their lives.”
With a growing number of clinics in Scotland’s biggest cities, access to such surgery is becoming easier, and im- A cut is made around the nipple and excess fatty tissue sucked out. This involves sucking out fatty tissue. Cuts are made at the temples, and sometimes under the chin. Surplus skin is removed and the remaining skin stitched into its new position. Cuts are made either along the eyelid crease, just below the lower lashes or inside the eyelid. Then, fat around the eyelid is redistributed or removed.