Over the past six years, the number of men choosing aesthetic surgery has doubled. Today one out of every ten operations for aesthetic purposes is done on a man.

Most men considering aesthetic surgery are between the ages of 35 and 50. The men in this age group are taking better care of themselves than men in previous generations. As a rule they are eating better, getting more exercise, and enjoying better health because of the advances in medicine. Yes, these men are aging but they feel good and probably have a mental image of themselves that is significantly younger than their actual age. They want to look as good as they feel. Men today also have more external pressure, both in the workplace and socially, to maintain a younger appearance.

Men are choosing many of the same aesthetic surgical procedures that women choose — including eyelid surgery, liposuction to remove excess fatty tissue, and rhinoplasty to change the appearance of the nose. Of these three procedures, rhinoplasty is the only one that demands that significantly different principles be applied when performed on a male.

The most common error made by inexperienced surgeons performing rhinoplasty on men is over-treatment of the septum, which is the bottom tip of the nose and characteristically defines the male nose. If a surgeon thinks of female rhinoplastic surgery as the model for male surgery, he or she may over-feminize the nose.

Each person has unique facial features such as skin type, facial structure, existing scars, and numerous other factors. Therefore, each rhinoplasty should be customized according to those features. You cannot give a patient someone else’s nose, but you can shape or alter the nose so that it is more attractive and in harmony with the facial structure and other features.

People in general are somewhat more satisfied with ethnic noses now than they were 20 years ago. Still, men with very large noses often decide to have them altered so as to better fit the rest of their facial architecture.