Plastic Surgery Is Not Just for Women
In my Seattle Facial Plastic Surgery practice it's surprisingly common for me to get asked by men whether they, too, are candidates for facial plastic surgery procedures. Many times this conversation is brought on by the fact that their significant other has just had a successful procedure and they also would like to do something to improve their appearance.
How Facial Plastic Surgery is Different in Men
The good news is that men are certainly great candidates for facial plastic surgery. The key is to tailor the procedure to each man's specific facial features. Depending on the procedure being planned there are several differences when it comes to having a facial plastic surgery procedure if you're male. In general, all facial plastic surgery procedures that are done on women can also be done on men, with certain modifications. Let's go over some common facial plastic surgery procedures and what things one must consider if being done on a male patient.
Male Rhinoplasty
Rhinoplasty is probably one of the most common facial plastic surgery procedures done on men. Whether performed to improve the nasal appearance or to correct prior trauma or chronic breathing problems the key to successful rhinoplasty in men is to maintain a masculine appearance. This usually involves maintaining a strong profile line. Specifically, this means either a straight bridge or even maintaining a slight bump. Other important considerations are to avoid over-rotating or deprojecting the nose. These maneuvers tend to make the nose too small and out of balance with a man's other strong facial features such a their jaw and chin.
Male Blepharoplasty and Brow Lift
Facial plastic surgery around the eyes must balance the treatment of excess tissue with the need to avoid creating an overly feminized upper eyelid or over-elevated eyebrow. In my experience, subtlety is the key to success. Minimal eyelid skin excision during blepharoplasty and maintaining an eyebrow during brow lifting that remains at or just below the orbital rim is important.
Avoiding The Baby Face: Fat Grafting and Facial Fillers in Men
Like women, men gradually lose facial fat from their faces. When planning facial fat grafting or skin filler injections (restylane, juvederm, radiesse) to improve facial volume loss one must avoid over-volumizing the face as this can create a very unnatural, feminized appearance. This is especially the case when treating the cheek area
Facelift Surgery in Men
Men can certainly have a facelift to improve skin laxity of the jawline and neck. Men's thicker, bearded facial skin poses is one thing to consider when performing facelift surgery. Incision placement in front of the ear is another factor that must be addressed. I will often hide the facelift incision in the pre-auricular region behind the tragus (the flap of cartilage the covers the ear canal opening). However, if this is done in a man you would end up carrying hair-bearing, bearded skin behind the tragus. Some men are accustomed to trimming hair in this area already and prefer this approach whereas other men would rather have the incision in this area hidden in an existing skin crease in front of the ear.
Chin Augmentation
When improving chin projection in men the important thing to realize is that men's faces can often take quite a bit of projection as this is a very masculine feature. Preoperative morphing is a great way to assess what level of projection is desired and works best.
