APPROACHING ‘HIS’ BEAUTY

Dr Gulhima Arora elaborates on male beauty and shares tips to consider when approaching male patients for aesthetic treatments.

The male demographic is an increasingly important one when it comes to performing aesthetic treatments. The awareness of getting aesthetic treatments among males is on the rise. The male aesthetic market is growing at a compound annual growth rate of 10.9 per cent. The male patient is unique and so is ‘His’ beauty. Certain aesthetic focus points set the male face apart from his female counterpart.

Men are opting for several aesthetic treatments and the scope is widening each year. From laser hair reduction for beard shaping, to boosters and botulinum toxin for periorbital rejuvenation, to fillers for chiseling their jaws to energy-based devices for double chin reduction and face lifting, to medical facials for glow, to men-centered skin care, they want it all. When it comes to facial aesthetics, many a times men don’t know what they want. Their complaints may be vague, which may lead you to indulge in a proper probing and assessment to be able to arrive at the exact indication that needs to be addressed and the appropriate modality to use for it.

The most important areas of concern to the male patient are usually the area around the eyes and the jaw. When addressing the male patient, it is important to keep certain male characteristics in mind.

• Men usually like a few wrinkles and don’t like a frozen look. Hence, toxin should be underdosed when used to tackle wrinkles.

• Their eyebrows are flatter and not arched, a feature that must also be kept in mind if performing a toxin treatment for the upper face.

• Cheeks in men are flatter with the cheek protrusion lying more medial and inferior to that in females.

• Men have a more robust chin when compared to women and have a squarer and more chiseled, angulated jaw. Tapered and pointy chins do not go well with the conventional male aesthetics.

• Their lips are supposed to be flatter and less full than women. These features must be kept in mind while addressing the male face to avoid feminising it.

• The area around the eyes or the periorbital region is of special concern to males. Undereye fillers are a common treatment which men opt for along with fillers for the jaw. Rejuvenation in this area is also done with threads, microbotox and radiofrequency devices.

There are certain soft tissue differences between males and females. The skin layers are thicker in males and so is the muscle bulk. This is the reason that a greater amount of product is needed while addressing the male face. The vascularity is more in males and injectable treatments may cause more bruising in them.

Skin care in men should be kept simple with fewer essential products, as compliance with skin care products is not always good with the male gender. It is not really necessary to have gender-specific skin care as products for different indications work on skins of both genders. Sunscreens should be aesthetically appealing, more-so in men, by maybe using transparent formulations.

Males are known to age more poorly compared to women probably because of their greater outdoor work and not being compliant with skin care. Hence, they present with more photodamaged skin requiring skin surface treatments. Skin booster treatments and platelet rich plasma treatments are being opted for by men apart from photofacials for this concern.

Laser hair reduction may warrant greater number of sessions in males due to greater density of hair follicles in them and the male hormones. This should be conveyed via a consent to the male patient prior to treatment.

Energy-based devices should be used keeping in mind the male contours. Deeper depths due to larger tissue bulk may be needed to tackle double chins with high intensity ultrasound.

Gender aesthetics must be respected and the broad fundamentals must be followed in order to achieve aesthetically pleasing “male” outcomes. It is also important to balance the male face and not cause too much masculinity as this may sometimes be perceived as aggressiveness.