Women aren’t the only ones getting Botox injections.
Dr. Mark Epstein, a dual-board-certified plastic surgeon, told Business Insider he’s seen an uptick in male clients over the past decade.
Where men used to make up about less than 2% of his clientele about 10 years ago, they now make up closer to 10%.
“Men are definitely getting more and more interested in taking care of themselves and looking good — it’s not just for women anymore,” Epstein told BI.
Age-wise, they run the gamut — 18 to 80 — requesting treatments for anti-aging and weight loss. Even facials and skin-tightening procedures, previously only performed on female clients, are seeing more male interest, Epstein said.
Epstein shared the most popular procedures men are asking for, from facial fillers to breast reduction.
Men want more hair, minus the plugs
Epstein’s most popular non-surgical procedures are tied to male pattern baldness, which affects 50 million men in the US, studies suggest.
In the US, hair transplants can cost anywhere from $10,000 to $20,000. (Or you can go to Turkey for $3,500).
Transplants can also cause scarring if not done well. Epstein believes that offices should specialize in hair transplants for clients to get the best results, not as an add-on with other treatments.
He offers a less invasive (and less expensive) option: platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy, an increasingly buzzy treatment that stimulates hair growth after platelet-rich plasma is injected into the scalp.
“A lot of patients don’t want to undergo a surgical procedure; they want to take advantage of PRP and all the other male hair restoration technology that is now available,” he said.
Filler facelifts continue to rise
Men are becoming more interested in filler and other injectibles, whether it’s for their face or penis enlargement, Epstein said.
The former is more popular in his office, with men getting Botox to smooth wrinkles and filler to make up for volume loss and skin laxity that comes with aging — a form of filler facelift that’s cheaper and less invasive than a surgical one, which is nearly $12,000 on average.
Another popular non-surgical option is using “lifting threads,” dissolvable sugar strands that “give a little bit of regional hike to the skin,” he said.
Breast reduction is more common than you may think
Another popular option in Epstein’s office is breast reduction to treat gynecomastia, or enlarged breasts in men. He’s had patients ranging from their teens to their 70s, as enlarged breasts can be caused by everything from hormones and steroid use to aging.
While it’s technically a surgical procedure, he said it’s minimally invasive and only takes a few weeks to recover from, making it more appealing to men who want to get back into their workout routines.
Men over 40 look to eyelid lifts
Epstein’s older male clients in their 40s to 60s are increasingly interested in eyelid lifts, which can reduce the appearance of aging and fatigue by removing excess skin and fat around the eye.
With over 30 years of experience in the field, Epstein said the surgery has evolved over time and is “much better than older procedures” at hiding the surgery scar and preserving the eye shape.
It’s also not as expensive as a surgical facelift, costing around $3,300-$3,800 on average (though it varies on location).
Liposuction is still hot, especially in the age of Ozempic
Despite the popularity of GLP-1 medications like Ozempic and Mounjaro, which are used for weight loss, Epstein said he’s “busier every year” with liposuction clients, including a growing number of men.
Unlike weight-loss drugs, liposuction is more targeted, Epstein said. “I like to call it ‘lipo-sculpture,'” he said. “It’s not just removing bulk fat, it’s about sculpting the body.” In fact, he said his liposuction clients are usually fit or have recently undergone some weight loss.
They just want “a little bit of tweaking,” such as removing fat around their midsection to reveal their muscles more.
Men want their muscles to pop
Some of Epstein’s male clients are primarily focused on toning their bodies. They opt for treatments like CoolSculpting, which uses a device to freeze fat cells in certain areas, and CoolTone, which uses electromagnetic waves to stimulate muscle contraction, thereby defining muscles more.
“You really feel it’s like doing 10,000 sit-ups,” Epstein said.
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