Male Plastic Surgery: Why Is the Face So Tricky?

A couple of years ago I was asked to address facial surgery for men at a national meeting and to provide any pearls of wisdom that I might have. I feel we have all seen examples of poor facelift and eyelid surgeries for men (Burt Reynold and Kenny Rogers), but not many good ones. Why is that?

Well, one reason is that with good cosmetic surgery you shouldn't be able to tell that the person has had surgery and surgeons fail at this more often with men than they do with women.

The main reason, in my opinion, is that surgeons choose to do the same procedures on men that they would with women. The ones that they are more familiar and comfortable with. These procedures were initially designed with the female aesthetic in mind and usually pulling things pretty tight in each area.

So, if we really take a hard look at what is aesthetically pleasing in men we should design our operations differently.

At that meeting I showed People magazines' “sexiest man alive” covers dating back probably 20 years or so and what they showed were men with a bit of “character,” in their faces. Somewhat low eyebrows not arched up, crows' feet wrinkles, heavier upper lids and really well-defined jawlines (John F. Kennedy, Jr., Sean Connery, Richard Gere and Brad Pitt - twice each, Denzel Washington, and Mathew McConaughey amongst many others).

This all means surgeons really need to communicate well with the male patient what are the things that can make it a great and natural result and then make sure the design and execution follows.

- Dr. Poindexter