Calf measures and the male anatomy

Calf measures and the male anatomy

More men are seeking perfect bodies through cosmetic surgery, writes social trends reporter JILL MAHONEY
Matthieu Roy's friends used to call him a frog -- and not only because he was a transplanted Quebecker living in Toronto. His calves were "like toothpicks really, like frog legs," so scrawny that he shied away from wearing shorts, going to the beach and playing water sports.

After years of trying to bulk up at the gym proved fruitless, Mr. Roy forked over $8,000 to a plastic surgeon to insert silicone implants into his calves.
"I just feel a lot better about myself. It's like when you get an amazing new haircut or you decide to dye your hair a different colour or you buy a shirt that you really like," the 25-year-old marketing student said in an interview.
"It really helped me to get a lot more self-esteem about myself. You know it's been a year, I got a new girlfriend and I just have the feeling that it's all because of this, and it sounds a bit silly but that's really the way I feel."

Mr. Roy, who was 24 when he had the surgery, is one of an increasing number of young men who are shelling out thousands of dollars to perfect their bodies through a host of surgeries, from rhinoplasty to refine noses to liposuction to erase love handles and create chiselled abdominal muscles, also known as six-packs.

"Men are becoming subject to the same forces women have always been subject to," said Stephen Mulholland, a Toronto plastic surgeon whose male clientele has mushroomed in the past decade. "The previous generation of young men did not do this."

While there are no comprehensive Canadian statistics on cosmetic surgery, those in the field say they are seeing more and more men, including those who are in their 20s and even teens.

In the United States, the number of cosmetic procedures performed on men has more than tripled since 1997. Males got 10 per cent of all enhancements last year, according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.

Men's interest in cosmetic surgery is in line with an overall explosion of nipping and tucking. In 2004, the society said the number of surgical procedures in the U.S. jumped 17 per cent over 2003 levels. When considered along with non-surgical treatments, such as laser hair removal and Botox injections to smooth our wrinkles, the figure soared 44 per cent.

As plastic surgery becomes more common, the stigma of going under the knife is slipping, in part because of a host of celebrities -- including Joan Rivers, Cher, Pamela Anderson and Patricia Heaton of Everybody Loves Raymond -- who have openly discussed their revisions.
Even ordinary Joes are being featured on prime-time reality shows such as The Swan and Extreme Makeover. The latter has chronicled the surgical transformations of several men, including a law-enforcement officer, an aspiring artist and a man who had been wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death.

Indeed, the male body is being "disrobed in many ways," said Michael Atkinson, a sociology professor at Hamilton's McMaster University who is halfway through a three-year study into Canadian men's uses of cosmetic surgery.
Though the stereotype of yesteryear may have been beer bellies, hairy backs and general inattention to style, men now live in a culture intensely focused on all things aesthetic, from a toned physique to health and fitness to quick fixes. Many young women readily proclaim their affinity for sculpted abs, and encourage their boyfriends and husbands to be surgically enhanced.

Young men, especially those who live in cities, are acutely sensitive to body issues in a way previous generations never were, Prof. Atkinson said.
"All these things sort of crystallize and sort of put some pressure on young men to do this and to think about this."
"These guys are saying, 'Yeah, everybody is talking about this. Everybody is sort of reinforcing this as the norm. I want to look like a masculine body. I want to look like a healthy body. I want to look like an attractive body. I want to look like I care and have a sense of morality and ethics about my body.' "
Prof. Atkinson, who said some men have a striking lack of knowledge about risks and side effects, said so-called minor treatments appear to be "pathways" into more serious surgical procedures.
"This is what we have to be aware of right now, as we start seeing this mushrooming of the younger populations into this and kids who are 15 and 16 now speaking about wanting plastic surgery."
He told the story of one man who underwent five procedures in just three years. The man, who was in his early 30s, started out with a nose job, then got his eyelids lifted. His face looked so good, Prof. Atkinson said, that he got a hair transplant, then liposuction and finally laser eye surgery.

"He sort of progressively rebuilt himself in three years. He's starting to represent this 'I- want-to-do-this-and-I-want-to-do-this-now,' Extreme Makeover mentality. [They think] 'I'd like to do this as quickly as possible because I want to look good today, not tomorrow.' "
The surgical procedures most popular among men in Canada, according to plastic surgeons, are liposuction, nose jobs and eyelid lifts. While in high demand in places like California, calf, buttock and pectoral implants for men are rare in Canada, though "slowly rising" in popularity, said Marc DuPéré, the doctor who operated on Mr. Roy's calves.

Also common, but rarely discussed, is male breast-reduction surgery to correct a condition that is often the result of hormonal imbalance or weight gain.
Ryan Tucker, a 21-year-old Toronto waiter, had such an operation, which can cost about $8,000, last year after years of embarrassment and teasing. The results have made a big difference; he now wears thin T-shirts in the summer instead of heavy clothing.

"I definitely feel a lot better about my body. It's given me a little more confidence in terms of being able to stick my chest out and walk around," he said.
"It's all about the confidence factor."
As a kid, Scott O'Leary was called Dumbo because his ears stuck out. In January, the 20-year-old construction worker from Alliston, Ont., southwest of Barrie, had them pinned back. The $3,000 operation "makes me look a little bit better and I feel a little bit better.
"I think plastic surgery is perfectly fine, to be honest with you," he said. "Because, what the hell -- why look good when you can look great?"

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