Gay Men Sydney gay men having surgery for chest and stomach muscles - sydney cosmetic clinic

Gay Men Sydney gay men having surgery for chest and stomach muscles

MD COSMEDICAL SOLUTIONS
1300 FACELIFT

THE ADVERTISEMENTS ARE RELENTLESS. Pick up any local gay magazine and you're certain to find page after page of cosmetic surgeons offering biceps enlargement, buttock augmentation, liposuction, smart liposuction, Botox , teeth whitening, hair transplants, chemical peels, and even colon hydrotherapy for a clear complexion and a slim body.

"The desire to look youthful-and the willingness to use the different resources to remain that way-is still very strong among gay men ," says Bob Witeck, the gay chief executive officer of Witeck-Combs Communications, a Washington, D.C-based marketing firm that specializes in researching the consumer needs of LGBT people for major corporations such as American Airlines and MTV.

While gay men are in the forefront in seeking out cosmetic surgery for such things as "love handles" and "tired eyes," says Witeck, straight men aren't far behind. "There is a true metrosexual component out there that sees gay men getting different cosmetic services, and they want to get them too."

So what are men looking to nip or tuck these days? According to Harvey Abrams, MD, a gay dermatologist based in Los Angeles whose office, Wilshire Aesthetics, specializes in liposuction, popular cosmetic procedures really haven't changed all that much over the past few years.

"The younger guys in their 20s or 30s like to get liposuction around their abdominals," says Abrams, whose clientele is mostly gay men . "Men in their 40s want to deal with wrinkles, so they come for Botox treatments. And men in their 50s and 60s want to get rid of turkey neck, so they get a lift. It's about body contouring, wrinkles, and sagging skin."

Abrams has been practicing medicine for over 30 years and went into dermatology in 1986. In 1997 he developed one of the first liposuction procedures to treat HIV-positive gay men with "buffalo humps," masses of tough fat that gather on the back, creating a hunchback look. No one knows exactly how the humps are created--some medical experts believe certain HIV medications cause the condition. "People didn't think you could do anything for it," he says, "but we went right at it, and the procedure has changed people's lives. I'm sure there are people in rural areas who are dealing with this condition and wonder what they can do. But if they're willing to travel, they can get treatment."

For Bill L., the buffalo hump wasn't his problem. The muscular, 44-year-old Los Angeles accountant just wanted sculpted abdominals.

"I did it impulsively," he says. "I was tired of not getting results." After working out four or five days a week at the gym, sometimes crunching 200 sit-ups per day, Bill woke up a few months ago and decided it was time for cosmetic surgery. He grabbed the latest copy of local gay magazine Frontiers, found an advertisement for " laser lipo," and called Mark Youssef, MD.

"I was extremely uncomfortable when I saw him for my first consultation," says Bill. "I acted like a goof. They probably thought they'd never see me again. But I went back."

Youssef, a cosmetic surgeon based in the California beach town of Santa Monica, suggested that Bill receive "mesotherapy," a procedure performed commonly in Europe that involves injecting pharmaceutical and homeopathic medications into a patient's trouble spots and essentially exploding fat cells.

"It hurts like hell at first," says Bill, "but the pain subsides quickly, and it's cheaper than laser lipo." Prices begin at $800 per area for laser lipo and easily run into the thousands, while mesotherapy begins at $399 per treatment per area. Usually, mesotherapy requires two to six treatments per area.

After six sessions with Youssef, Bill is quite happy with his sculpted torso. "I had the tub in the middle that wouldn't go, but I knew I looked better than that underneath," he says. "It's so much better now."

Youssef, who's straight but makes a point to reach out to LGBT patients, says about 12% of his clientele are gay men , up from 3% only five years ago. "Cosmetic work for the face and body has risen dramatically in the past few years," he says. And among those gay men who can afford the procedure, Youssef has seen an increasing interest in laser liposuction, which uses laser technology to melt and remove fat. Even better, says the cosmetic surgeon, "you can come in on a Friday and be back to work by Monday."

Laser lipo is best suited for the kind of patient who regularly works out at the gym but just can't burn off those love handles. With the laser , "You can melt stubborn bulges with no real impact or downtime," Youssef says. But he warns against using laser lipo and other body-sculpting procedures as a quick fix: "This is not a substitute for going back to your Taco Bell eating ways." And obese patients or those with sizable fatty areas are better off with regular liposuction, which uses a stainless steel tube to surgically suck up excess fat cells.

Abrams of Wilshire Aesthetics says laser lipo is still in the "experimental stages" and often doesn't produce the results patients expect. What's more, he says, "the technology also costs more than regular liposuction," which in itself is costly. Abrams's buffalo-hump procedure, for instance, starts at about $4,000.

For wrinkles and tired eyes, Botox injections and eye lifts still rule the gay world of cosmetic surgery. " Botox has been the gateway for all of the other procedures," says Abrams. "People then see what other things they can consider doing."

Such as hair transplants. Ken Siporin, MD, another straight plastic surgeon who serves a sizable gay clientele, says men ranging from their early 20s to late 40s come to his West Los Angeles office hoping to replenish their receding hairlines. "With the younger guys, I try to push them to wait until their late 20s, when their hair is more mature," Siporin explains. "But some people don't want to wait, so I work with them."

Siporin says that various medications like minoxidil are limited in dealing with male baldness. "Once the hair falls out completely," he says, "there's nothing that can restore that hair." Siporin uses a mixed treatment of medications and transplant, which keeps existing hair on the head and grows in new hair at the same time.

Siporin, like Youssef, has seen more and more gay clients come to his office, and both cosmetic surgeons advertise in local gay magazines, because gay men are ideal clients for helping them grow their practices. After all, Siporin says, "I wouldn't have spent the money on advertisements if I didn't think it would get the results."

Oddly, in a heavily gay area like Los Angeles County, where doctors and surgeons have worked with HIV-positive gay men for decades, there is still discrimination. According to a study published in 2006 by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, 26% of cosmetic surgeons in Los Angeles County refused service to institute researchers who represented themselves as HIV-positive gay men during an informational phone call. "Some people have side effects because they are HIV-positive, and it's important to them to look good," says Brad Sears, executive director of the Williams Institute, a think tank dedicated to the field of sexual orientation law and public policy. "It's an extremely high level of discrimination. If African-American women were being turned away, for example, it would be considered outrageous."

The upshot, says Abrams, is that gay men should be very selective about the cosmetic surgeon they choose. Not only will they feel comfortable in a gay-friendly environment, but they also won't be tricked into going through different procedures that might not work. "You have to be very careful and very aware," he says. "People are almost preying upon the gay community because they know we're so image-conscious."

Abrams and the other doctors advise gay men to visit only cosmetic surgeons who are board-certified by the state, offer informative consultations and good post-operation support, and boast more than just a busy waiting room. "If you have a surgeon who jams too many patients into one day," says Siporin, "his work will probably suffer. You need someone who is passionate, compassionate, and has a certain amount of artistry. You should really see what his work looks like first before signing on."

For their part, the doctors make no judgments about why someone wants cosmetic surgery. But Bill believes gay peer pressure to create an Adonis-like body should not be a part of the decision: "I could get laid with 20 more pounds on me; I could get laid with 50 more pounds on me. It was something I wanted to do for myself."

MD Cosmedical Solutions
Sheraton on the Park
Shop 6, 128 Castlereagh St
Sydney NSW 2000
Ph: 1300 885 808
www.mdcosmedicalsolutions.com.au