A Lift for Men

A Lift for Men The Orient is not the only place where loss of face is avoided at all costs. Western women for years have been paying plastic surgeons to smooth over the wrinkles of time. Men, however, have usually accepted the inevitability of the sagging jowl, droopy eyelid and other facial evidence of aging.

No more. In line with the rising sales of hairpieces, colognes, purses and rainbow-colored clothing to increasingly vain males, American men are now seeking out plastic surgeons for facelifts. All in all, about 250,000 Americans had plastic surgery last year, female patients outnumbering males by 20 to 1. But the ratio is rapidly changing. "I have noticed a definite upsurge in the number of male patients in recent years," says Dr. Robert Fischl, a Manhattan plastic surgeon. "About one in four of my patients is now a man."

Many of these men are entertainers, but more and more businessmen have come to recognize the potential of the uplift market. Says Art Holmes, a Los Angeles insurance broker: "Let's face it, when you reach 50, you begin to look it. If you're in a business where you have to stay young, plastic surgery is the answer." Holmes, 50, whose associates are younger than he is, felt that the bags under his eyes might hold him back professionally and made a quick decision after he saw what Dr. Kurt Wagner, a Beverly Hills surgeon, did for his girl friend. "I told Wagner: 'I want what you did to Jan.' " A week later, he underwent a three-hour, $800 blepharoplasty (eyelid operation). "Now," jokes Holmes, "I look into the mirror every morning and say: 'God you're beautiful.' "

Happiness Surgery. Wagner averages 30 operations a week, one-third of them on men. The reason, he thinks, is that "we are enjoying a renaissance of the peacock look for men." Says another Beverly Hills plastic surgeon, Dr. Byron Hardin: "A lot of stigma used to be attached to plastic surgery for men; there was a tendency to associate it with entertainers and homosexuals. But it's not freaky any more--it's just part of good grooming. I call it happiness surgery."

Fixing turkey-gobbler necks costs about $500; smoothing out cheeks runs an estimated $1,250 to $1,500, while eyelid surgery costs from $600 to $1,000, and a full face-lift (rhytidectomy) can cost up to $2,500. Most of the males who pay those prices are in their 40s or 50s, and many of them are separated or divorced. For the married, the operation has hazards as well as benefits. Warns Hardin: "One of the aftereffects of a face-lift is often divorce."

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