More men are turning to plastic surgeons to improve their appearance, according to WISC-TV/Channel 3000.
Between 2000-17, the number of plastic surgery procedures performed on men rose 29 percent nationwide, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. In 2017 alone, about 1.3 million cosmetic procedures were performed on men. As these populations get older, the number is projected to increase.
Ahmed Afifi, MD, a plastic surgeon at UW Health's Transformations clinic in Madison, has been performing plastic and cosmetic surgeries for decades. Ten years ago, men comprised 5 percent of patients at the clinic. Today, that number has increased to about 20 percent.
"Many men, the first time they see me, they're very concerned and they're thinking: 'Should I, as a man, be having a cosmetic procedure or injection?' But the vast majority of them, once they have the procedure or injection done, they think, 'Wow, that actually wasn't such a major thing,' and they become regulars in our clinics," Dr. Afifi told WISC-TV/Channel 3000.