Vanity, thy name is man

From face lifts to liposuction, well-heeled urban Indian men are opting for cosmetic surgery to look youthful and attractive. Varuna Verma turns the spotlight on India’s male botox brigade

Naveen Singh followed one principle religiously in his working life. Whenever the Bangalore-based software professional spoke to a superior, he smiled from ear to ear.

It wasn’t a public relations exercise. “Singh did it to hide his thin lips. He felt his lips made him look stern and aloof,” says D.S.A. Surindher, cosmetologist and director, Cosmesis India cosmetic surgery centre, Bangalore. The always-smiling routine finally got to be too much for Singh. Last month, he approached Surindher and opted for cosmetic surgery to get fuller lips so that he could feel more confident at work.

Singh is not the only male patient to visit Surindher’s clinic. In fact, the cosmetologist asserts that the number of men visiting his clinic has shot up sharply of late. Earlier, the ratio of women to men at his clinic was 10:1. “Now, they come in equal numbers,” he says. Surindher finds that most of his male clients opt for cosmetic surgery for professional reasons. “They say they have to interact with clients and don’t want to look tired and stressed,” he says.

Clearly, a vanity revolution seems to be sweeping through the world of the urban Indian male. As looking good becomes top priority, face lifts, nose jobs and hair removal sessions are no longer considered feminine pastimes. Anup Dhir, senior cosmetic surgeon, Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, Delhi, says that 10 years ago, no more than 10 per cent of his patients were men. Now the figure is as much as 35 per cent. Most of these men opt for cosmetic surgery when they are looking for a new job or a new partner, he reveals. “A lot of men come for wrinkle removal treatment, botox shots and filler injections just before going for a job interview.”

Fatima Pooya, cosmetologist, Dr Pooya’s Healthcare Centre, Bangalore, has also seen a huge spurt in the number of male clients. “Five years ago, 80 per cent of my patients were women. Now I get an equal number of men and women,” she says.

So what has fuelled the Indian man’s sudden fascination with cosmetic surgery? The concept of looking good has changed in the last five years, argues K.M. Kapoor, head, department of cosmetic surgery, Fortis Hospital, Mohali, near Chandigarh. “There has been a shift in focus from beauty to anti-ageing. People want to look young, rather than beautiful,” he says. And cosmetic surgery promises to erase those age lines as nothing else can.

Kapoor feels that India’s growing corporate sector has contributed to the obsession to look young. “Today, corporate offices are full of young people. This makes the older lot feel sidelined. They believe that they can stay competitive only if they look young,” he says.

And the urge to look young is hitting men earlier than ever before. Five years ago, Kapoor performed face lifts on men in their 50s. “Now I have 30-year-olds on my operating table,” he says.

A person’s face has become his ID card, agrees Pooya. “Qualifications matter. But good grooming makes it easier to land a good job,” she says. “As the job market gets tighter, men are beginning to spruce up their looks to get an edge over the competition.”

Last month, Rahul Mishra, a Bangalore-based software engineer, visited Pooya’s clinic for a botox treatment to remove the unflattering wrinkles on his forehead. Three people had just been laid off from his team at work. Mishra told Pooya that the three had been up to the mark when it came to performance. “He felt that they lost out because they fell short on grooming, communication and presentation skills,” she says.

Mohan Kapoor, senior consultant, cosmetic surgery, Breach Candy Hospital, Mumbai, says that for the last couple of years, men and women have been going neck and neck when it comes to getting botox shots or having their tummies tucked. In fact, men are even dominating some areas of cosmetic surgery. “Liposuction has become a rage with them,” says Kapoor, referring to the procedure for the surgical removal of fat.

Other cosmetic treatments popular with men are rhinoplasty (nose job), gynaecomastia (treatment of male breasts) and thread lifts (a minimally invasive face lift). A botox shot comes for Rs 8,000 and a thread lift for Rs 65,000. Rhinoplasty, gynaecomastia and liposuction cost between Rs 30,000 and Rs 45,000.

“Non-surgical treatments such as de-tanning, scalp stimulation, hair removal on hands, ears and nose, beard shaping and getting a glowing skin are also becoming popular among men,” says Pooya.

Adds K.M. Kapoor of Fortis Hospital, “Five years ago, laser hair removal was unheard of among men. But now they routinely go for laser hair removal treatment for the chest, back and shoulders.”

And if you thought botox parties —gatherings where professionals inject botox shots into willing guests — were only for rich middle-aged women, think again. Apratim Goel, cosmetic surgeon and medical director, Cutisklinic, Mumbai, reveals that he has been invited to two corporate botox parties for men in Mumbai. About 20 guests attended each party. “Most of them took botox shots either to remove wrinkles or cure a sweating problem,” says Goel.

Raghav Suman, a guest at one of these parties, asked Goel to give him a deadpan face. Suman felt that he had an over-expressive face, and that he showed his real feelings while striking business deals. “He didn’t want to frown or look surprised in front of his clients. So we gave him a botox shot to remove the expression lines from his face,” says Goel.

In fact, such is the demand for cosmetic surgery among men that Goel keeps his clinic open on Sundays only for his male patients. “That’s because most of my clients are working men,” he says.

Clearly, men are packaging themselves to get ahead in their careers. Chytra V. Anand, cosmetic dermatologist, Kosmoderma Clinic, Bangalore, says she gets male clients from diverse fields, including the airline industry, advertising and marketing, the export sector and IT. Last week, a commercial pilot, Neel Chowdhary, took an urgent appointment with Anand. He had cleared the first round of interview for a pilot’s job at a leading private airline company. Then came the bad news. “Chowdhary was told that he stood a better chance of bagging the job if he got his skin acne treated,” says Anand. The pilot has now postponed his second round of interview by three months and is undergoing acne treatment at Anand’s clinic.

Working on a global platform has also increased the need to look well-groomed. “People in the West are very particular about the way they look and dress. As Indian professionals increasingly interact with them, they imbibe the same values,” says Fatima Pooya.

A Bangalore-based exporter, Jayant Nair, recently approached Pooya’s clinic for a liposuction and a face lift. Reason? Nair has to attend an international conference in August this year where he will interact with global clients. “He is toning and shaping up for the conference,” says Pooya.

But it is not just the fear of falling back in competition that is driving ageing professionals to cosmetic surgery clinics. The new corporate buzzword —fun-at-work — is leading out-of-shape employees to shape up.

A Chennai-based IT professional, Suresh Gopal, never shied away from work. But he always excused himself from office outings at resorts on the city’s outskirts. “His colleagues always played water polo in the pool. Gopal invariably cried off. He was embarrassed to wear swimming trunks because he had what are called male breasts,” recalls Jyotsna Murthy, senior consultant cosmetologist, Ramchandra Medical Centre, Chennai, who recently performed a gynaecomastia surgery on Gopal.

However, though men are increasingly looking to cosmetic surgery to pull up those sagging jowls, most continue to be secretive about it. Last year Surindher was invited to a television talk show on cosmetic surgery. Before the show started, many men in the audience asked him which cosmetic surgery treatment would be right for them. “But when the anchor asked them on camera whether any of them would opt for cosmetic surgery, nobody raised a hand,” recalls Surindher.

But secret or not, this revolution has clearly come to stay.

Source

Unlike years past, there are now a lot of options for guys to make themselves look good.