The Rugged Look : More Men Are Opting for Cosmetic Surgery to Add a Little ‘Sizzle’ to Their Faces

THEY WANT STRONG noses like Tom Cruise’s and Tom Selleck’s, or thin, angular ones like President Bush’s and ABC-News anchorman Peter Jennings’. They want angular jaw lines with sharp definition, like Michael J. Fox’s. And they want eyes free of bags and somewhat deep-set like Paul Newman’s. Men are showing up at cosmetic surgeons’ offices armed with definite ideas about how they want to look. But for most the goal, according to Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Dr. John Grossman, is to look “rugged.”

It’s not that men want to look like celebrities. “Men are extremely realistic,” says Dr. H. George Brennan, a Newport Beach cosmetic surgeon. “They know they aren’t going to turn out like movie stars. Most of the time my patients are professionals--doctors, lawyers, politicians, CEOs--who come in asking to look younger so they can hold their own against the competition.”

“A handsome young attorney came in and looked me straight in the eye and said he could win more cases if he had cosmetic surgery,” Grossman recalls. “He said, ‘There’s no sizzle in my face--the women on juries don’t relate to me.’ ” A few months later, the lawyer reported that he was winning more cases and credited his thinner nose and angular jaw.

Psychologists might argue that the lawyer’s successes were less the result of the jury’s perception of his new profile than of changes in his perception of himself. In any case, this man firmly believed that altering his face via plastic surgery would improve his career. So he, as have more and more American men, submitted to the scalpel.

According to the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons, the number of men who had plastic surgery in 1988 increased 69% over the 1984 figure. The society reports that nationwide more than 90,000 men had cosmetic surgery in 1988--constituting 16% of all procedures that were performed that year. But in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties, many cosmetic surgeons report that 30% to 50% of their patients are men.

Rhinoplasty, or nose reconstruction, is the operation most requested by men, and the most popular rejuvenating procedures are eyelid surgery, fat suctioning, hair transplants and face lifts. About 20,000 men in the United States had fat deposits removed from their upper or lower eyelids in 1988, according to ASPRS figures.

Many professional men complain that aging necks are accentuated by wearing shirts and ties. A 48-year-old Los Angeles banker paid $1,300 to spend 20 minutes under local anesthesia while his plastic surgeon suctioned excess fat from his neck area. A week later, the patient reported that all the swelling and pain were gone, “and I could wear a tie without seeing extra flab hanging over my collar.”

Dr. Mark Mandel, one of a team of plastic surgery consultants who evaluate and treat injuries for the Los Angeles Police Department, performed about 30 similar procedures in his Century City offices last year. The suctioning is done with a needle-like instrument through three small puncture wounds that are virtually unnoticeable once they’ve healed.

Because of potential health dangers, doctors often offer alternative procedures to men seeking face lifts. Thick facial tissue and the presence of beard follicles mean that more blood flows near the surface of a man’s skin than a woman’s. Therefore, a man’s face lift is more apt to result in excessive bleeding than a woman’s--which is why surgeons look for alternatives.

“Often something as simple as an implant between the eyebrows will get rid of that furrowed look men want to eliminate, and they won’t need a forehead lift,” Mandel says. “And many times men come in thinking they need a face lift when liposuction of the neck is all they really need.”

But for sagging jowls, deep forehead wrinkles and an all-over droopy look, a face lift is the only answer, according to Geoffrey Keyes, a Los Angeles surgeon. “No other procedure gets rid of the excess skin that has sagged with age,” Keyes says.

Men may pay more than their female counterparts for their cosmetic surgeries--the average woman’s face lift runs about $4,000, while a man’s is about $4,500--and it’s not just because men’s surgeries are more complex. Hiding scars is often trickier with men. A woman’s face-lift scars can be disguised easily by a hairdo, but such camouflage is often more difficult for men, Not only do men generally wear shorter hair styles, but their hairlines may recede with age and eventually uncover a scar.

The increasing number of men choosing cosmetic surgery indicates that the social taboos surrounding these elective procedures are lifting. As Brennan notes: “Men were slow when it came to using blow-dryers and skin-care products, too--but just as with those, cosmetic surgery for men is finally acceptable.”