But today Colombia like other countries in the region has its soft side, too, and its gathering obsessions with beauty. More and more men, young and old, here and across Latin America, are looking in the mirror and finding that they are not the fairest of them all. The proof is a growing legion of plastic surgeons who say that men, perhaps 10 percent of their clientele just five years ago, now make up more than 30 percent of those taking a nip or a tuck, reflecting trends across Brazil, Argentina and the rest of Latin America. In the United States, by comparison, about 13 percent of surgical alterations last year were performed on men, the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery said in a recent report. Dr. Carranza, whose glistening smooth skin he unabashedly admits is enhanced by Botox, is among those who want to show men just how easy it is to take a bit off the waistline, sculpt a nose, stretch a face or pump up a chest. His advice is falling on receptive, if sometimes fleshy, ears.
