We Asked Men What Plastic Surgery They Would Get

More men are getting cosmetic surgery than ever before. According to one study, general procedures among men tripled between 1997 and 2015, while a report released this year by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons revealed that nearly 100,000 men had filler injections in 2017, up 99 percent from 2000, with botox doubling in popularity.

The suggested reason for this rise is as you'd expect: the source of all of society's new woes, social media. We're in the post-metrosexual era, say commentators, where unless you look like a Men's Health cover made flesh you feel deeply inadequate and in need of a physical fine-tune.

To find out more about what kind of surgery is on men's minds, I walked around and chatted to some about the cosmetic procedures they would get if they had the money.

"It's different if you're trying to change your gender and stuff, but you see a lot of people go overboard with it in the media. For me, personally, it's not a big deal, but if I had an extreme amount of money I'd definitely flatten my nose. I come from a Mediterranean country, so it is quite big. I don't think it makes me ugly, but it's just something I'd like to change.

"I don't think there's a problem with men having plastic surgery. People are more accepting these days – like, if I did have it, I wouldn't hide it or anything. Like, if I was playing The Sims, for example, I’d definitely make my avatar with a flatter nose."

"As a 42-year-old man who's drunk cider for the last 30 years of his life, and can't cook, and lives on fast food, I'd definitely get a tummy tuck.

"It was actually when I was living with my bird that I put on the most weight and got to 15 stone – and even though I think I'm OK now, so probably wouldn’t need it right this moment, when I was in a relationship I was quite heavy and quite embarrassed about pictures of me and the size of my belly, so if I had the money back then I would've had a tummy tuck, mostly because of how incredibly lazy I am. If I can find any shortcut in life, I'll do it. So basically, due to me doing about five shits a day, I'd get a tummy tuck."

"Plastic surgery is not a bad idea. If you need it and have the money to do it, why not? Some people really need it, so generally I think it’s a good thing. Men are now taking care of our bodies in 2018. Maybe ten years ago they wouldn’t think to get plastic surgery, but now we want to look good and we care about what people think – we want to make a good impression.

"I'd like to get my face done. Some botox for my skin, to inject it in there to look nice. The under bit here, too [grabs skin underneath chin] – my girlfriend always says, 'Your neck is quite fatty,' so it always make me think about it. The belly – I don't mind having a beer belly, or whatever, but the most important thing is the face; it's the first you look at."

"I'm lucky enough that I don't need it right now, but I’m open-minded about it, so in the future it’s something I would probably look into. I’m very scared of operations, so I’d probably go for something like botox or fillers or something – nothing too obvious.

"I'm a fan of ageing gracefully, so I don't think there’s anything wrong with a bit of nip and tuck, but botox is as far as I’d go. I’m so fascinated about it. I go online and look it up, not because I want to get it right now, but more because I want to see how far people go. I think, by my age, like 35, I think guys have done something.

"There is a lot of pressure from the surge of social media, y’know, Instagram and stuff – you see a lot of young-looking people, and so ageing is becoming scarier. Women have always been aware of how they look – society has imposed that upon them – but now it's happening for guys as well."

"I believe, when it comes to plastic surgery, it's each to their own really. It’s up to the individual. As far as myself, not yet. I say not yet because I have looked into some cosmetic surgeries, like hair removal, more from sheer convenience, so you don’t have to shave – like under my arms, the groin, the back, all that kinda stuff, because there’s places that are hygienic to get it, to be honest. In the future I can't tell, because I can only talk about now.

"I think it’s great that a lot of men are exploring options which don't fall under the umbrella of traditional masculinity. For me, the first step was a skin care regime, face scrubs. That’s a big step, I think, for a lot of men to take, and now if surgery is what they wanna do, then that’s the next step."

@tom_usher_