There has been a silent surge of male plastic surgeries over the past 20 years in what some experts have dubbed the ‘daddy do-over’ trend.
Figures from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons suggest 1.3million men in the US are going under the knife each year for liposuction, nose jobs, breast reduction, and even Brazilian Butt Lifts.
Social media is awash with rumors of celebrities like Liam Payne and Simon Cowell getting facial tweaks after sporting radical physical transformations — but few famous men have publicly admitted to having surgery.
Dr Matthew DelMauro, a plastic surgeon in NYC, told DailyMail.com that while many female celebrities proudly flaunt the results of their procedures, a taboo still exists among men. He estimates 15 percent of patients at his Manhattan clinic are men — a number that continues to rise every year.
Some men have not been put off by the stigma, however. Last June, Chicago rapper BandMan Kevo went viral for announcing his recent plastic surgery.
Last June, Chicago rapper BandMan Kevo went viral for announcing his recent plastic surgery (pictured post-op)
Kevo took to Instagram last year to unveil abdominal and waist liposuction, as well as his Brazilian Butt Lift (pre-op, left, and post-op, looking noticeably more chiseled)
Writing about his reasons for getting the procedures, he told his Instagram followers: ‘I was working out hard and still couldn’t lose my stomach fat’
The daddy do-over is a play on the term ‘mommy makeover,’ or a combination of cosmetic procedures that restores a woman’s appearance to that of before she had children.
For men, the goal is to get rid of the ‘dad bod’ they may get from changes in diet or routine after becoming a parent, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.
Procedures aimed at trimming fat, such as liposuction, are the staples of the daddy do-over.
Kevo, who underwent abdominal and waist liposuction, as well as a Brazilian Butt Lift shared his results on Instagram.
‘I was working out hard and still couldn’t lose my stomach fat,’ Kevo wrote. ‘I was 284 now I’m 220, but you still have to work out hard.’
‘I had them take fat from everywhere to form my sh*t. My lower back, my legs, everywhere. Everything was weird about my body because I weighed 284,’ Kevo wrote.
He received backlash from fans but stated it’s a trend that isn’t being talked about. ‘Most rappers [ain’t] gonna tell you the sauce,’ he added.
Kevo is not the only celebrity opting for plastic surgery.
In March, fans began suspecting that former One Direction member Liam Payne went under the knife when he appeared at the premiere of ex-bandmate Louis Tomlinson’s All of Those Voices documentary.
Fans noted that Payne’s face looked more angular and chiseled, which led to rampant speculation he had been given ‘buccal fat removal’.
Popularized by celebrities such as Chrissy Teigen – and rumored to be behind the jawlines of Lea Michelle and Sophie Turner – the surgery removes buccal fat pads from the inside of the mouth.
These pads serve as buffers between the teeth while chewing sometimes but are not entirely necessary.
A surgeon scoops out a ‘spoonful’ of fat from a patient’s cheek, taking some of the ‘puff’ out of their cheeks.
And in December, fans sparked concern over TV host Simon Cowell appearing unrecognizable after several procedures, including a suspected facelift and Botox.
Celebrity men aren’t the only ones going under the knife; more and more men overall are seeking out cosmetic surgery.
In 2020, liposuction was the fourth most popular plastic surgery procedure, for men rivaled by facelifts, eyelid surgeries, and nose reshaping.
Simon Cowell (seen left in 2002 and right in 2022), 63, once said that his obsession with injectables and left him ‘unrecognizable’ and ‘something out of a horror show’
Fans have speculated that Liam Payne, (seen left in 2015 and right in March 2023), 29, has had cosmetic surgery on his face to make it look more angular
Men still only make up 8 percent of all cosmetic procedures performed in the US each year.
Though that percentage is low, a 2019 report revealed that more than 1.3 million cosmetic procedures were performed on men the year prior, a 29 percent increase between 2000 and 2018.
But like the mommy makeover, non-dads are getting these procedures too.
The Aesthetic Plastic Surgery National Databank estimated that male breast reduction procedures increased by 47.9 percent between 2014 and 2018.
Dr Nicholas Jones, MD, FACS, plastic surgeon at Nip & Tuck Plastic Surgery in Atlanta, said he most commonly sees men come in for liposuction, BBLs, and treatment of gynecomastia, or the overdevelopment of breast tissue in men and boys.
Gynecomastia is often the result of steroid abuse and occurs when the body’s hormones get thrown out of balance, leading to too much estrogen.
‘When it comes to liposuction, men are more likely to get high-definition liposuction,’ Dr Jones told DailyMail.com.
‘They’re getting abdominal etching to highlight the underlying musculature and get more definition.
‘I find that men really want that done so they can look more muscular,’ he said.
The Aesthetic Plastic Surgery National Databank estimated in its 2021 report that liposuction costs an average of $2736 in surgeon fees.
Breast fat grafting costs an average of nearly $3000, and BBLs were $4004.
The rise of plastic surgeries has been partly attributed to unrealistic body images on social media sites like Instagram, which have been flooded with heavily edited photos.
A 2020 study from the Journal of Social Media in Society found that men who were exposed to muscular figures on Instagram immediately experienced ‘lower experience satisfaction, weight satisfaction, and more social comparison compared to the neutral images.’
Dr Jones told DailyMail.com: ‘At one point I would say it was frowned upon for a man to have surgery, but now it’s more accessible and people are showing their bodies off on social media.’
But the stigma surrounding plastic surgery for men has started to change Dr DelMauro said.
Due to this decreasing stigma, ‘men feel more competent and willing to undergo procedures,’ he said.
In 2020, the majority of people who received plastic surgery were between 40 and 54 years old.
Dr DelMauro sees men across all age groups, however. ‘I see men across all age groups: young men in their 20s, young men in their 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s.
‘Feeling comfortable really transcends all age groups,’ Dr DelMauro said. ‘They tend to care about their appearance.
New York, Florida, California and Washington D.C. are among America’s plastic surgery hotspots, with the most plastic surgeons per member of the population in those states
‘They care about their health, they care about their fitness. But every age group participates in that.’
Dr Jones typically sees men between 30 and 55 years old.
‘[My] patients who get the BBLs are more likely to be from the LGBTQ+ community. I get a lot of gym trainers who have certain areas they want to address.
‘I also have massive weight loss patients who just have excess skin and have that taken care of. I have retired police officers and college kids. It’s a pretty broad spectrum,’ he said.
Dr DelMauro credited celebrities and social media for men gravitating more and more toward plastic surgery.
Ultimately, he said that men want the same feelings of satisfaction, inside and out, as women.
Dr Jones said after one of his male patients, a hair influencer, showed off his cosmetic surgery results on social media, a large influx of male patients started coming into the practice. ‘It never stops,’ he said.
‘[Men] want to feel like their inside and outside match. It’s something that women have keyed in on.
Counseling men prior to receiving plastic surgery looks a little different though. For example, men are much less likely than women to have friends or loved ones who have undergone such procedures previously, so they won’t be as likely to know what to expect.
‘I find that women know at least one or two people who have undergone some kind of plastic surgery, so they can reach out to them and get some more information,’ DelMauro said.
Men also might need an extra nudge to follow the post-op instructions. ‘Men are more likely to try to return to work or do strenuous activities earlier, so we have to be very firm with them and let them know they can’t go back to the gym, they can’t go back to work, they shouldn’t be running outside because it can lead to problems with their healing process,’ Dr Jones said.
Dr DelMauro uses this as a tool for educating these newcomers to plastic surgery. ‘I tell them Rome wasn’t built in a day.
‘You’re going to be swollen, you are going to not look like your final result for weeks, sometimes even months. And patience is key to achieving that,’ he said.
‘Plastic surgery isn’t going to fix anything; it’s only there to help you feel more confident and comfortable.
‘You have to be happy already because this is only going to make you happier then. If they tell me that everything below their neck is horrible, that’s not something I can fix.
‘But if they’ve got specific concerns, we generally can treat them and make them feel better about themselves,’ Dr DelMauro said.
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk