We are dedicating this week to the men! Today I talk to Robyn Cussell, our in-house qualified nurse at Rejuvenation Clinics of Australia, to explore the most popular cosmetic treatments for men.
Fiona: Hi Robyn! As we’re focusing on our male patients this week, I wanted to chat to you about the different options available. To start with, is body contouring a popular treatment for men?
Robyn: It is. I mean, a lot of men come in and they are having treatments like most of the women, so it’s really not much differentiation between a male and a female treatment anymore.
Fiona: And do you think it is becoming more widely accepted for men to come and have treatments?
Robyn: Definitely. And some of the blokes who come in would surprise you. They are high-end corporates wanting to look more youthful…
Fiona: Yes.
Robyn: They all feel more comfortable coming in because it is no longer just a female thing.
Fiona: Yeah, I was reading an article that suggested that for men – especially in the corporate world – as they get older it is harder for them post-50 to get jobs, so they stay looking young…
Robyn: That’s exactly right, and a lot of them come and get a bit of Thermage done, they start doing some fillers with wrinkle injections. These are usually the first things they look at, certainly. As far as the body contouring goes, most guys who come in… their tummies aren’t quite suitable. Some of them are suitable for Coolsculpting. Most of them – if they are really overweight – we’ll talk to them about doing a bit of a liposculpture if need be. Or we’ve got weight loss options, including Ultrashape. A lot of them are doing a little bit of that. However, men are more about the face.
Fiona: Okay, so what are the most popular facial treatments then?
Robyn: Definitely wrinkle injections, fillers, and a lot of them are now doing skin tightening treatments to get rid of the jowls. You hear about many of them are madly going to the gym as well to work on their the body image. But definitely skin tightening; a lot of the guys get that done. And of course SleepTight is very popular for their snoring. So they are trying to improve that. But I’d have to say wrinkle injections are definitely the most popular. And they do that sort of thing more than lining up for facials. They don’t have so many facials, although the facials are just as beneficial for men as for women.
Fiona: As far as the wrinkle injections are concerned, are there specific areas that they target…?
Robyn: Just the usual – frown, forehead, crows feet… They are main areas. And as I said, the Thermage for tightening up the face, getting rid of the jowls and a lot of them do laser to clean up the skin. We are starting to see more of them coming through for that. So, cleaner, tighter skin, no wrinkles… it’s a perfect package for them!
Fiona: Yeah… And one of the other things I was reading about is that men aren’t really so concerned with the fine lines as women are; it is more the deeper lines.
Robyn: Well, that’s true, because men have thicker skin. And those deep lines are really sort of etched. But a face full of those [fine lines] often doesn’t worry them. The guys that worry more about the fine lines are the guys with the finer skin. They have fillers put in.
Fiona: Okay. So the Thermage is about tightening…? And that’s to target more….
Robyn: That’s the overall skin tightening treatment, more of a defined tightening of the face.
Fiona: And so for the jowls – what sort of treatment is best for that? Thermage? And how does Thermage work?
Robyn: That’s a radio-frequency treatment and it targets all of the collagen of the face. It tightens it, it creates a change with it and over a period of time from the tightening effect a lot of the collagen comes through so the skin becomes a lot firmer and it remains there because of the tightening up initially. So it is slowing down the ageing process of the face and can slim down a double chin and a neck. It makes a huge difference to the face.
Fiona: And what sort of time period would it take to see results?
Robyn: Well, that’s a single treatment. They can do it once, but they can easily do another one twelve months later or they can step into other skin tightening regimes… That’s usually what’s got their interest; they can follow up with the ultrasound treatment, the Doublo, and the skin tightening treatment. It is a bit tricky on men with beards because they need to shave, but they can do the Doublo. So they are the two best treatments that with wrinkle injections can really slow down the ageing of the face.
Fiona: Doublo – is that short for?
Robyn: That’s what we’re calling it, the Doublo. It’s the ultrasound treatment. Well, previously called Ultera [another ultrasound], we’ve got the Doublo. So just think of 007, minus the seven!
Fiona: So how does that one work?
Robyn: It’s an ultrasound that goes deeply into the skin. It’s the same principle as the Thermage – just a quick little shortening up of the collagen fibres because of the depth and the heat going into the skin. And of course the remodelling takes place with more collagen fibres being made and coming through over a period of time afterwards. So you get a gradual firming up of the skin. Those types of treatments improve a lot of the fine lines.
Fiona: Why do you think it has become more acceptable for men these days to undergo cosmetic treatments?
Robyn: I think everyone is ageing and everyone is madly guarding their job and they are prepared to do whatever it takes to keep their foot in the workforce. But I would have to say the Baby Boomers – you know – they have grown up at the beach, sun baking with baby oil on, creating hideous sun damage, and suffering really premature ageing because of that…
Then of course the younger generation, they have money to spend, they are out there going after things because they can, it is available. And then, there are other males that are madly trying to back peddle to keep themselves looking good! It’s amazing.
Fiona: And I guess there’s… overall in society, there is more acceptance. In general.
Robyn: There definitely is. I mean, there are a lot of guys that get it done, admittedly, and there is a lot more of the older, ageing generation coming through. So they are not too worried about it, they just want to slow down the ageing process. There is a lot of it out there in the magazines, about everyone doing it, so I think the stigma of not being masculine and going to the beauty parlour is… gone!
Fiona: Yeah. And I think too, with the wrinkle injections… there was a bit of a stigma attached to it when they first came out.
Robyn: There still is to a point. There are still a lot of people coming through who want to have those areas worked on, but they don’t want to have it. They don’t know much about it. Once you explain and break down the barriers… as soon as they trust you and they do it and have the result for the first time, they are over it. They’re into it and that’s all there is, they never look back.
There is a lot of misinformation about it out there. Still to this day, I mean, if you were to hear some of the stories that people come in with, it’s just extraordinary.
Fiona: What are some of the fears people have?
Robyn: It’s a toxin and people fear that it ‘paralyses’ the face and muscles.
What it is really doing is temporarily relaxing some of the muscles that cause the skin to crease.
There is a lot of good information that we can give to them. We have handouts that contain all the information so they can read all about it. There are always going to be some people that are going to be very anti-it. But it is usually more the women. The men are fine.
Fiona: So what would you say to a man who is considering having some facial rejuvenation work?
Robyn: When they first come here we chat about the area of concern and gauge how much they would like to spend. Then we give them an overall view of what can be done. They don’t have to do it all at once, but can improve areas gradually. If they’ve got raging frown lines, deal with that first. See the relaxation of that, see the difference that it makes on the face, the fact that it will come on quite slowly, so it is going under the radar… people are not going to know, they are just going to look rather refreshed and not nearly as anxious as they were. They can see that people don’t know they have had it done, but they know that people are seeing them in a different light because they are looking more relaxed… things like that are enormous so they’re coming back, even start asking for more.
Fiona: Fabulous!
Robyn: Yes, but the thing that scares everyone off are the Hollywood freaks.
Fiona: Yes, people who go overboard? Yes…
Robyn: They give it all a bad reputation, so you have to spend some time and talk to them and give them all the information about it. Don’t try and sell it without them knowing all the facts.
Fiona: I guess, like you say, it is a matter of not believing everything you see out there on the internet, and not thinking that if you have some sort of cosmetic work then it is going to end up being like the people who go overboard in Hollywood.
Robyn: Well, the thing is, too, they see the result. They don’t know what that person has had, but they know they look hideous. For example, wrinkle injections and Thermage will not create that look; usually it is surgery. Fillers have also been so overused as well.
Fiona: That shows just how important it is to find out all the information.
Robyn: Yes, Absolutely! And really, males do use virtually everything the same as the females… short of the makeup!
Fiona: Mind you, some go there too, don’t they?
Robyn: Well, they do, and we actually have some guys, especially guys that have redness and they are having laser treatments for their Rosacea. The mineral makeups: you can either sell it as a makeup or you can sell it as a powdered sunscreen. And once they are latch on to the idea that it is a sunscreen and they can see how it turns down the redness but it still looks very, very natural… they love it!
Fiona: That’s a great tip! I like that one.
Robyn: Yes, powdered sunscreen is great for males.
Fiona: Fantastic, all right! Thank you very much for taking the time to chat about cosmetic treatments for men – it’s been great to hear more about the most popular treatments.
