Facelift for Men – Avoiding the ‘KEN’ Syndrome

Cosmetic Surgery is becoming increasingly more popular among men. One of the surgeries which is of growing interest to the male population is the miracle Facelift. This procedure is among the top 6 surgeries for men, nevertheless, there are some “details” that make this surgery differ from men to women, that gentleman should be aware of. The first is…you guessed, men have facial hair.  When the skin is lifted and reallocated, the facial hairline will change and most probably recede, thus taking your “shaving area” to places it never been before. Surgeons try to minimize this movement, using a more vertical direction of skin pull than in female surgery. Nonetheless, the larger the quantity of excess skin, the bigger the displacement of those well loved sideburns.  Doctors often suggest permanent hair removal for these areas, unless you find amusing to shave behind (or even inside) your ears every morning. The second point is still relevant to the first: since men have facial hair, they also have more vascular skin. That means higher blood pressure (which needs closer monitoring), more bleeding during surgery and a higher possibility of postoperative hematoma. As such, drains are commonly used along with compression dressing applied longer to avoid complications. On the other hand, men’s skin tends to regenerate faster from trauma and bruising. Thirdly, men normally have less head hair than women (or no hair at all) which makes the doctors job also more difficult when it comes to conceal the scars. That’s why most surgeons tend to make incisions behind or even inside the ears. One thing a good surgeon will always ensure is that the hairline doesn’t recede further as a result of surgery, which would be an unfortunate result of malpractice. A forth concern with facelifts in men is that an “overdone” procedure can compromise key masculine features resulting into an effeminate facial profile. In men, the facelift should be less drastic and apply less pull to simply smooth the natural facial creases (like the nasolabial folds) instead of making them totally disappear. The idea is to restore a youthful appearance, maintaining masculine contours and not look like a ‘Ken doll’. Men also have stronger ligament supports, bigger faces, heavier necks and thicker skin. All details that make this surgery more challenging for a doctor. Having said this, these features make men tend to heal quicker that women, which is good since they don’t usually tend to use concealing make-up.