Have you heard of the menopaunch? The term has been coined to refer to the increasing numbers of middle-aged men turning to plastic surgery to deal with their bulging waistlines, man boobs and sagging faces.
The number of men having cosmetic surgery to get rid of excess fat in their man boobs and paunches has dramatically increased in recent years, so much so that a new term has been created for the phenomenon - the menopaunch. In the UK, figures from the Harley Medical Group show that there has been an increase of more than 140 per cent over the last 5 years in men having cosmetic surgery.
The most popular procedure for men over 50 is liposuction - fat removal - to get rid of fat from the abdomen (the paunch), chest (man boobs or moobs), or chin. Liposuction accounts for 24 per cent of surgical procedures carried out on men over 50 by the Harley Medical Group. It can be used to remove up to three litres (about 5 pints) of stubborn fat. The time needed off work afterwards is usually a week and the total recovery time is about 6 weeks.
It is not a cheap option, and usually costs several thousand pounds. But more and more men are choosing either to use their disposable income for these procedures or to take advantage of easily available credit. There has also been a corresponding steady increase in the numbers of men having non-surgical treatments such as botox in recent years.
The menopaunch peaks in the early fifties, often around the age when marriages break up after children have left home and men start to look for a younger partner. The personal ads are full of men in their fifties and sixties looking for women in their thirties or younger. Once it would have been sufficient for an older man to provide financial security, but with the financial independence of women an older man now has to measure up in the looks department as well.
The pressure for men to look good has also been driven by the media promoting and reinforcing stereotypes of 'attractiveness' that men feel they have to conform to - a pressure that women have been subject to for much longer. The ideal of an attractive man promoted by media images usually shows a firm toned youthful body.
Cosmetic surgery has become appealing to busy men, particularly those with a sedentary lifestyle, as a 'quick fix' to achieve faster results than dieting or exercise, or as a way to remove stubborn fat that they have not been able to shift through exercise. Clinics say that they will not operate on those who are obese, and that they always check that anyone wanting surgery is following a healthy diet and lifestyle.
As cosmetic surgery for women has become commonplace and acceptable, men are possibly also feeling the pressure to keep up with their wives or partners who have undergone cosmetic procedures.The number of male public figures and celebrities now admitting to having had some form of cosmetic surgery is likely to increase the level of acceptability of these procedures for men.
The sense of taboo, that it is somehow unmanly for a man to be so concerned with his appearance is being replaced by the attitude that a real man should care about his looks and take whatever action is needed to keep looking good and hold the years at bay.
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