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And as the cultural taboo against plastic surgery has lifted, a man is more likely to say �yes� when a woman suggests it. After all, wives often do all the advance work � shopping around and interviewing surgeons � so it�s relatively easy for husbands to sign the papers when all the research is set before them. �Men are figuring out what women figured out decades ago, which is that like it or not, our appearance really matters. We see it not only in men�s pursuit of cosmetic surgery but also in the growing number of health magazines and skin-care lines directed at men,� said psychologist David Sarwer, lead editor of the new book Psychological Aspects of Reconstructive and Cosmetic Plastic Surgery. For men, such surgical togetherness is part of a larger trend. The number of cosmetic procedures performed on men increased 16% from 2000 to 2005, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. (The number of cosmetic procedures performed on women is up 42% since 2000.) Though the organization doesn�t keep statistics on which patients share the same household, its members performed 10.2 million cosmetic procedures in 2005, up 11% from 2004, with men having 1,196,392 of those procedures. Many of those patients were husbands and wives, or boyfriends and girlfriends, said Dr. Darrick Antell, a spokesman for the organization. He cites a 15% increase in couples in the last two years at his New York practice, and other doctors report a similar uptick. �Perhaps it�s due to all the makeover shows on TV, but men are paying a lot more attention to their bodies and realizing that having plastic surgery doesn�t mean they�re wimps,� said Diane Gerber, a Chicago-based plastic surgeon. Most of the couples surgeries she performs at her practice are instigated by the wife. �The usual pattern is, I�ll do face or body work on her, and then subsequently she�ll mention something like, �My husband�s eyelids are drooping,� and I�ll say, �Well, bring him in.� Often the man doesn�t even know something can be done about the lids, and that it�s not that big a recovery.� |
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