Boob jobs and butt lifts are old news, and ‘macho mouth’ transformations have replaced them.
Surgeons say there has been a rise in the number of men who want lip injections to give them a ‘proud’ lower lip and a natural smirk.
Dr Rian Maercks, a plastic surgeon in Miami, Florida, told Daily Mail Online that men are flocking to him to get macho mouth procedures that make their lips more plump without feminizing their faces.
And despite fielding hundreds of clients a year, he says he always sees the same four ‘celebrity wish pics’: Brad Pitt, Channing Tatum, Harry Styles, and Henry Cavill.
Here, he explains how he creates each look, and why they are increasingly popular.
Are these mouths macho? Dr Rian Maercks, a plastic surgeon in Miami, Florida, says that there has been a spike in the number of men who want to make their mouths look like Brad Pitt’s (left) and Harry Styles’s (right)
Other popular pouts include Channing Tatum’s (left) and Henry Cavill’s (right), which Dr Maercks says he gets the most request for
Plastic surgery is continuing to grow in popularity, and just over 17 million people in the US received a cosmetic procedure last year.
The population receiving these procedures is still overwhelmingly female, but the number of men who had a cosmetic surgery in 2016 increased by 3 percent over 2015, and was up by 28 percent since 2005.
Minimally-invasive procedures, like lip ‘menjections,’ as Dr Maercks calls it, surged by 74 percent from 2015 to 2016.
Indeed, according to Dr Maerck, his client base has ballooned in just a few months.
While he used to have a few men a week, if not every other week, he now has around five a day, and up to two dozen a week.
‘It all started this year,’ he told Daily Mail Online. ‘In a matter of months, male lip fillers became one of the most popular procedures in the clinic.’
Dr Maercks, who has been doing the lip restoration surgery for eight years, echoed this, saying: ‘Men are finally becoming more aware of thin lips.’
He even went so far as to say that ‘duck lips’ are a curse capable of ‘ruining their lives’.
The trend, he says, has been driven by the age of selfies.
‘Social media, dating apps, selfie culture… that culture has a big part of it,’ he explained, adding: ‘Even our politicians embody and celebrate narcissism – we have never been more encouraged to analyze our facial features.’
WHAT ARE MENJECTIONS?
Men want a strong lower lip, Dr Maercks said.
‘A lot of men have started to identify lips with authority and confidence,’ he said.
When he performs a macho mouth surgery, Dr Maercks tweaks the base of a person’s nose and plumps up their lower lip.
Typically this procedure involves injecting a filler, like Restylane, Juvederm or collagen, which costs $1,000 per cc (milliliter), and he usually uses four cc’s per person.
For men seeking a confidence boost, it’s money well spent, according to Dr Maercks.
‘They all report a drastic increase in confidence,’ he insists.
But how does he tailor his procedure for each look? Here, he explains…
THE HARRY STYLES
WHY MEN WANT IT
According to Dr Maerck, the 23-year-old singer is one of the most common celebrities cited by his patients.
‘It’s all about the corners of his mouth,’ he explains.
‘His lips are pretty balanced but the thing that makes Harry Styles’s mouth unique is that little lift either side that almost makes him look like he’s smirking all the time, whether he’s smiling or resting.’
Harry Styles has a lift on the corners of his lips that give him an attractive natural smirk
HOW DR MAERCK MAKES IT HAPPEN
To replicate that lift on the edges, Dr Maerck has a ‘special technique’ that involves putting filler around and below the mouth.
‘I create a column of support to push up the corner of the mouth.
‘Harry Styles has a lot of strong tissue around there which gives his face that unique look.’
THE CHANNING TATUM / BRAD PITT
WHY MEN WANT IT
Channing and Brad exemplify the difference between a macho mouth and a feminine lip filler, Dr Maerck explains.
While women tend to have a more pouty and full upper lip, men tend to have a flatter upper lip.
Women who get lip fillers tend to want to enhance that upper lip pout, like Kylie Jenner and Khloe Kardashian. However, according to Dr Maerck, men seem increasingly desperate to beef up their lower lip.
‘There’s a fascination in that lately. Men want the proud lower lip, it gives them a feeling of authority and confidence in a very interesting kind of way.’
Channing Tatum: The actor’s lower lip is fuller than most men’s, according to Dr Maerck
Brad Pitt: Though he has a thin upper lip, the actor’s lower lip gives him a confident look
HOW DR MAERCK MAKES IT HAPPEN
Men’s penchant for this particular style – a strong lower lip and thin upper lip – is what drove Dr Maerck to design his ‘macho mouth’ approach.
‘Brad Pitt and Channing Tatum are good-looking guys but their lips aren’t going to work on anyone,’ Dr Maerck says.
‘To get that look, you can’t just focus on the lips. If you try to make those lips on a man, you’re going to make this weirdly duck-lipped man.
‘Whatever I do to the lips needs to fit in with the rest of the face. So I will give them a proud lower lip, but I will work on that crease between the lip and the chin, and the crease between the top lip and the nose to balance it.’
Dr Maerck does this using much more filler than most surgeons do, to plump up the areas that would turn pursed and duck-like if he just filled the lips.
THE HENRY CAVILL – ‘EVERYONE’S FAVORITE’
WHY MEN WANT IT
According to Dr Maerck, Henry Cavill’s lips are the most popular among his clients.
‘They are very balanced. He has this proud lower lip, but also a full upper lip that is almost feminine, but the strength of the lower lip makes it masculine.’
Henry Cavill’s balanced lips are popular among Dr Maerck’s male clients
HOW DR MAERCK MAKES IT HAPPEN
This lip, due to its femininity, has the highest risk of creating a ‘duck lip’ effect.
Dr Maerck injects more filler in the upper lip than in others, plumping up the middle section of the top lip, and smoothing the crease between the nose and the lip.
He also fills out the chin to push up the corners of the mouth before filling out the lower lip.