About Face: For men, cosmetic surgery isn’t just to improve looks

Kirk Baird

Monday, Aug. 23, 2004 | 8:22 a.m.

Ernest Lopez wanted a new look.

The 70-year-old retired California judge, who settled in Las Vegas two years ago, has taken good care of himself over the years.

But it's the nagging effects of age that can't be helped no matter how much exercise that Lopez wanted to remedy.

Specifically, over the years his brow had sunk low and his eyelids began to shutter out more and more of his visibility.

It was the same syndrome his grandmother suffered from.

"(Her) eyes almost closed because of her eyelids, and mine (are) getting that way," Lopez said. "When you look up and sideways, you can see it.

"In other words, I don't want to be like my grandma."

So Lopez turned to cosmetic surgery to reverse the effects of time, having his brow and eyelids lifted.

It's not the first cosmetic work Lopez has had. Nearly three decades ago Lopez had bags underneath his eyes removed. The short-term results were black eyes from the surgery. After the healing process, however, Lopez said he looked younger.

Nearly a week after his most recent surgeries Lopez says he is healing nicely and is already happy with the results.

"It looks like I was on the losing end of a boxing match, my eyes are swollen," he said. "But the swelling has gone away and they've already removed some of the stitches."

It may be a lot of effort to look good. But Lopez certainly isn't alone.

According to statistics from the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS), the authoritative source for U.S. statistics on cosmetic surgery, more and more men are having plastic surgery.

Last year nearly 1.1 million U.S. males had cosmetic surgery, an increase of 31 percent from 2002. While men still represent only 13 percent of the total plastic surgeries performed in the nation, it's clearly a growing market.

Dr. Scott Manthei, who has had a plastic surgery practice in Las Vegas for 15 years, has seen the number of his male patients having cosmetic surgery increase from 10 percent to nearly 30 percent.

He attributes the increase to the better success rate of the surgeries and the decreasing days needed to recover.

"Men don't have time to take a week or two to recover," Manthei said. "They want the kind of procedure (that) they can be back to work in a couple of days.

"Men have always been vain, but now they have the availability to do it."

Good looks

But it's not always vanity that drives men to have cosmetic surgeries. Sometimes it's simply to improve their quality of life.

Omar Felix arrived in Las Vegas from Mexico at age 9. Not only faced with the daunting task of learning a new language and culture, Felix also had a noticeable imperfection: large ears that stuck out several inches from his head.

"They used to call me Dumbo," Felix, 28, recalled in a recent e-mail interview. "I used to (pin) them back with tape or even crazy glue. I was always embarrassed."

It got even worse for Felix when he became a professional dancer, where appearance is often judged as important as talent.

His temporary solution was to grow his hair out long enough to cover his ears. Then Felix was told he needed to cut his hair to match the clean-cut appearance of other dancers.

His only option: plastic surgery.

With the help of a friend, Felix found a plastic surgeon, as well as a dentist who put in porcelain veneers to correct an overbite (the result of a broken jaw) that affected his smile.

He had the surgeries eight years ago and hasn't stopped working since, including a current stint as a featured dancer in the show "Encore" at the new Tokyo DisneySea theme park.

But the surgeries gave him more than work opportunities.

"I got more confidence with myself," he said. "With everyone looking so good onstage, it boosted my confidence and self-esteem."

What's hot

The most common cosmetic surgery for men is liposuction, followed by rhinoplasty (nose job), eyelid surgery, breast reduction and hair transplantation.

While women typically have cosmetic surgery to look younger, that's not necessarily the same reason given by most men.

"Liposuction, rhinoplasty, breast reduction ... those don't make you look younger," Dr. Foad Nahai, secretary for ASAPS, said.

"It's interesting: A face-lift doesn't make the top five for men, whereas it does for women."

Which means that men care more about looking healthy than about looking their age.

"We tend to think of men with older features -- heavy neck, heavy eyelids -- as distinguished. But when we look at women the same age with the same features, it's not the same response. It's 'she's old,' " said Nahai, who has a plastic surgery practice in Atlanta.

"The pressure to compete (in the workforce) is much greater for women. Women feel they must look young to be successful. Whereas with men, the appearance of maturity is sometimes an asset."

Still, in a city such as Las Vegas, where a high premium is placed on appearance, it's not uncommon for men to want to look younger.

"I get a lot of, 'I know I'm 55, but I don't feel 55 and I don't want to look 55,' " Dr. Jeffrey Roth, a Las Vegas plastic surgeon, said. "A lot of people are trying to (have their appearance) reflect how they feel on the inside."

But it's not just older men who turn to Roth. The plastic surgeon said his clientele runs the gamut from 17-year-olds with gynecomastia (enlarged breasts) to 90-year-olds "who want their eyelids done because they can't see the golf balls anymore."

"It's more acceptable for men to take pride in how they look and that maintenance is not a bad thing," Roth said. "I think across all demographics it's more more acceptable to talk about plastic surgery and to be seen walking into a plastic surgeon's office."

Several years ago William Walker probably wouldn't have considered plastic surgery. But the 67-year-old Las Vegan had read about the significant improvements with the procedures.

Mainly, the results are better and the recovery period is not as long.

Having suffered with sinus infections for years, Walker had Manthei clean out his sinuses and repair a deviated septum and broken bones in his nose.

Manthei also refined Walker's nose, smoothing out a big hump in the middle so it was thinner and much less pronounced.

Three and a half years later and Walker loves the results. He breathes much better, doesn't have the sinus infection problems and even his snoring has been reduced.

The surgery was so successful, two years ago he had his eyelids lifted to help his eyesight.

While Walker said both surgeries were for functional reasons, he's certainly not displeased with an improved appearance.

"I've never been concerned about my appearance," he said. "It was about seeing and breathing better. Of course, the fact that it helped my appearance, I wouldn't have objected to it."

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