Aesthetic medecine for men

What they request, the growing number of male patients, their desire to preserve some of their expression lines

The number of men consulting an aesthetics doctor is skyrocketing, and they now represent up to 20% of the patient list. Having a bit of work done in a bid to look more handsome and sexy is no longer taboo. But we cannot treat men in the same way as we treat women. We need to adopt a different approach in order to take into account their demands and achieve good aesthetic results.

What are the most frequent requests made by men in terms of aesthetic medicine?

Men want to look more virile and more seductive while preserving their personality, or even enhancing it. They want us to address their face as well as their body, so body reshaping techniques are the main thing they focus on.

Of course, their expectations vary according to their socio-type and their ethnic origin, but the key trend is to “look like me, only better” thanks to safe, effective treatments that require little or no downtime. Here are a few of their requests:

Rejuvenating the face and making it more virile

More prominent features, a less rounded face or a squarer jaw are just some of the requests made by men regarding their face. More marked angles and better-defined contours all make the face look more determined. It is all about performance, looking more efficient.

In recent years, particular attention has been paid to the chin as men want to make their chin more prominent and squarer. The arrival of new hyaluronic acids means we can carry out targeted injections to increase its volume and push the chin outwards. The main aim is to create volume to increase the width of the jaw. We may also need to inject right along the jawline to lift any burgeoning jowls and make the lower line of the jaw cleaner. At a certain age, ptosis (sagging) of the skin and fat lead to a double chin effect, so we might recommend having cryolipolysis to reduce the fat stores in addition to the injections.

Redefining the facial angles so they catch the light better

Hollow temples, weak cheekbones and sagging eyebrows all give the impression of fatigue in the face. The challenge is to make the face catch the light without creating too much volume, which would make it look too feminine. This is the case for the cheekbones, which should be widened by injecting hyaluronic acid or tissue inducers (Radiesse), the latter having the benefit of rebooting collagen production without creating too much volume. This is the same for temples that have hollowed with age, which can be injected with a more volumising hyaluronic acid underneath the muscle envelope to increase the product’s expansion.

This “contouring” and “highlighting” work requires us to take on the role of sculptor in order to achieve harmonious results across the whole face. It is not about increasing volumes; it is about reshaping the entire face!

Lifting droopy eyebrows and opening up the expression

Before considering a blepharoplasty, it is possible to improve the eye area by lifting the tail of the eyebrow with injections into the Charpy fat pad.

Under-eye hollows can also be treated carefully with hyaluronic acid. These injections will make the face look stronger and bring a touch of aggressiveness.

Erasing nasolabial folds and treating the lips

These parts of the face should be treated with caution if we want to preserve the face’s virile appearance and not make it look too full. Wrinkle correction, in men, is a difficult exercise and must be assessed case by case. The aim is to rejuvenate the face but not necessarily make the wrinkles disappear.

Injecting into the tear trough and nasolabial folds as well as the cheekbones will give a lifting effect. Injections using the blanching method allow us to erase so-called smoker’s wrinkles without adding volume to the lips.

Making the body more defined

A recurrent request from men is to boost their muscle tone and refine their figure. Though men suffer less from cellulite than women, they still have a number of localised fatty bulges. Love handles, portliness, excess weight around the belly or even the thighs can now be treated with good results, using cryolipolysis when the fat is very localised or with high intensity focused ultrasounds, which have proven their effectiveness.

This should go hand in hand with a healthy diet, regular exercise and perhaps even some high intensity electromagnetic waves (Cristal Fit) to recover muscle tone more quickly.