Men Go Under the Knife for 'Moob Jobs'

Posted by Jerome Taylor and Ben Naylor, Independent UK at 5:21 AM on January 27, 2009.

When it comes to being sliced by the cosmetic surgeon's knife, women are not having all the fun. Operations to eradicate "man boobs" increased by 44 percent last year, and the procedure moved into the top five requested by men, overtaking face-lifts.

Male breast reduction was barely heard of five years ago -- just 22 were performed in the whole of 2003 -- but last year, 323 British men had their "moobs" removed.

Brow lifts -- in which muscles that produce frown lines are removed and eyebrows moved higher -- rose 60 percent. Reasons given for the procedures included unhappiness with appearance, having skin over the eyelid that made it hard to to look up and the irritation of having to comb hair over the forehead to hide unsightly wrinkles.

One in 11 Botox procedures were performed on men in the U.K. last year -- 3,004 compared to 2,881 in 2007.

Rhinoplasty remained the British man's most popular correction -- 698 opted for nose jobs, down 3 percent. That was followed by eyelid surgery (610 operations, up 9 percent), ear correction (508, up 22 percent) and liposuction (479, down 18 percent).

Tagged as: health, cosmetic surgery, moobs, man boobs