In an image-conscious age, more men are going under the knife for cosmetic reasons, writes Ciarán Brennan.
WHEN AN almost fully preserved, 2,300-year-old bog body dropped off a peat-cutting machine in Clonycavan in Co Meath in 2003, the discovery provided remarkable insights into ancient society in Ireland.
It transpired that Clonycavan Man, as he became known, used an expensive "Iron-Age hair gel" made from pine resin and imported from the Continent. It provided proof, if any was needed, that even more than two millennia ago, some Irish men were concerned about their appearance.
If he was alive today, it's possible that Clonycavan Man would be among the increasing number of Irish men seeking cosmetic surgery to improve their looks.
The number of men getting cosmetic surgery in Ireland and Britain has risen by 140 per cent in the last five years, according to the Harley Medical Group, which operates in both countries.
In particular, it says that there has been a cosmetic surgery boom among Fams (40- or 50-year-old alpha males).
Over 50 per cent more men aged 35-55 are having Botox treatments in 2008 compared with the same time last year, with figures still rising.
Around 20 per cent of all Botox patients at the Harley Medical Group are now men.
Figures released earlier this year by the group show that there has been an increase, running at 17 per cent, in men of this age group undergoing facelift procedures, with blephoroplasty (eye bag removal), and chin lifts also up 25 per cent and 44 per cent respectively over the last year.
Other cosmetic surgery clinics are reporting similar trends.
"Quick, easy fixes like Botox are very prevalent," says Dr Patrick Treacy of the Ailesbury Clinic in Dublin.
"Up to 15 per cent of Botox users are male, whereas it used to be 8 per cent just four years ago. Botox among males almost seems to be a middle-class occupation," he says.
In some quarters, cosmetic surgery may not be viewed as a very masculine thing to indulge in, but this is changing, according to Treacy.
"Certainly that attitude is not there among middle class men in Dublin or London. Guys are in occupations where they want to look younger, they want to look sharper, they want to look fitter and as a consequence they follow those trends," he says.
Second marriages and career opportunities are the most commonly cited reasons for Fams undergoing rejuvenation treatments, according to Liz Dale, director of the Harley Medical Group.
"Men in their 40s often start with rejuvenation packages, a course of Botox, restylane and laser treatments, and then start looking for a more dramatic surgical solution when they hit their 50s, opting for eye bag removal and even full facelifts to turn back the clock," she says.
"More than one-quarter of the liposuction procedures we now do in Dublin are for men aged over 50," says Dale.
That might suggest that cosmetic surgery clinics are offering men a quick-fix solution to a more complex problem of weight management which requires a multi-faceted approach involving exercise and diet.
"That's why we only have consultations with nurses and surgeons," counters Dale.
"If someone is overweight and they are not eating healthily or properly, liposuction is not the thing for them.
"We recommend liposuction for people who have stubborn areas of fat, particularly for men it is the stubborn areas around the tummy, where even if you go to the gym the areas of fat don't go very easily or very quickly.
"Liposuction is about sculpting rather than weight loss, that's why it is important to have a good consultation. It is definitely not to lose weight," she says.
The cosmetic surgery industry has also been subject to criticisms that it makes its money out of preying on the insecure, the vulnerable and the vain, and that the male market, increasingly bombarded with images and messages in the media, is ripe for the picking.
But Dale says that her company hasn't been deliberately targeting the male market.
"We don't specifically market to men but we have just seen more and more of them come - and most people come from word of mouth not through advertising," she says.
Treacy also rejects the criticisms that the industry is targeting the more vulnerable in society, including an increasing number of men.
"It is never a problem in the ethical clinics because most ethical clinics have a service to provide and if they suspect that somebody isn't going to benefit from it or that somebody is coming in for the wrong reasons, they will turn them away," says Treacy.
He argues that cosmetic surgery can have major psychological benefits for men whose self-confidence was ruined by a perceived imperfection.
"Some of these things can be life-changing experiences for people," he says. "It is totally acceptable to perform otoplasty, which is pinning back ears, on a child of 11 or 12 because they are being ridiculed at school - what is the difference taking off fat in a 21-year-old or putting hair on him because he is being ridiculed by his peers?"