When facial fillers first came into use in the 1980s, they offered a rather crude way to rejuvenate one's appearance. Made of bovine collagen, early injections didn't do much but add volume to the face. But over the last decade or so, the advent of new, more-precise technology has given doctors the tools to not merely plump the face, but reshape it altogether: straighten out a brow, strengthen a jawline, boost a receding chin. And while cosmetic fillers might still be most strongly associated with lip plumping-thanks to their unofficial ambassador, Kylie Jenner-they are increasingly finding an audience in men looking for a more "masculine" face.
Take Payton Mass, a 28-year-old exercise physiologist who lives in Los Angeles. He first began getting fillers eight years ago in order to refresh his undereye area and look better rested for photoshoots. But as he continued the treatments, he began adding more male facial sculpting procedures, including fillers, to his jaw, cheeks and lips. "I'm already a really good looking person and I have good confidence, but I wanted to kind of take it to the next level," he says.
Another factor? He feels less judgement around men getting these procedures. "I think society has kind of laid back on those stigmas," he says. "I grew up in Iowa. If you get fillers or plastic surgery in Iowa, people there, even today, would probably look at you a little differently. But out here in California, it's just the norm. It's not an issue for men to be getting plastic surgery. I feel like it's on the rise."
He's part of what plastic surgeons say is a growing wave of men who are-somewhat paradoxically-taking advantage the freedom of a new era of masculinity to double-down on an old-school idea of how men should look.
Facial masculinization procedures have, of course existed for years, not least among trans men. And with fillers now able to tweak faces in both subtle and extreme ways, it's not surprising that some dermatologists and plastic surgeons have begun to market facial fillers to men, often using social media to showcase before and after shots of soft and strong jawlines the way a gym might flaunt their clients' muscle-building progress at the gym.
While the ideal aesthetics of male and female beauty are not fixed in place, Dr. Gary Linkov, a New York City-based board certified facial plastic and hair surgeon, says there are specific traits most people read as feminine or masculine. "People don't always fixate on that, but our eyes just kind of pick it up," he says.
Fillers have grown in popularity in part because, in contrast to surgical procedures, they offer subtle changes, little to no recovery time, and their effects are only temporary. Beyond those practical values, though, facial fillers are often marketed to men in a way that signals that they won't challenge traditional masculinity. As Brenda Weber, a professor of gender studies at Indiana University, puts it, "The male body has always been a template for the display of augmentation-think muscles. But typically, the credit for the change has been given to the person with the willpower to change the body," she says. Surgery, on the other hand, "requires that a body be passive in relation to a surgeon." So, as has already been done with traditionally feminine products like eye cream, concealer or shapewear, "the industry has to show why plastic surgery would play into the values of masculinity: by being a smart business choice, a method for personal advancement, or an investment in self."
Pitching fillers as a way to increase the masculinity of your face is one way to do that. But the pressures of the coronavirus pandemic-lost jobs, social isolation, hours spent staring at oneself on an unflattering Zoom camera-also seem to have created an environment in which the idea of investing in one's appearance seems to be resonating with men.
"For men now with the way people lost jobs and are getting back into it, it's competitive. It's competitive as to who is going to get jobs, and they want to look the best they can," says Dr. Jason Emer, a board certified dermatologist in Los Angeles. "They want to be as youthful-looking as possible. And they see celebrities, they see Snapchat filters and Instagram filters, and I hate to say this, but facetuning apps and other things like that, where people have that chiseled, shredded jawline, where they have those really sculpted features." Emer found that advertising that he specialized in men allowed him to stand out in a crowded market of Beverly Hills dermatologists and plastic surgeons. He frequently shares his transformations of male patients on Instagram and YouTube, showcasing everything from male facial sculpting to penis enlargement.
The coronavirus pandemic may have exacerbated these pressures, but it did not create them. Brian*, a 26-year-old Los Angeles native who works in sales, first tried facial fillers two years ago in his jawline and chin along with a small amount in his lips, and has been maintaining them ever since. "It's just a way for me to feel more confident. It definitely gives me more masculine features I would say, while still being subtle," he says.
In his profession and location, he says, looking more attractive is just part of the job requirement. In that sense, getting fillers is not so different from maintaining an exercise or skincare regime. "I think that they're all leading to the same outcome, which is a better you," he says.
Dr. Rupert Critchley, founder of VIVA Skin Clinic in London, also reports a "Zoom boom" in patients as UK lockdown procedures have lifted. "Ten years ago, I had guys coming in with a cap on, sitting in the corner of the waiting area, head down. Now people are coming in with much more confidence," he says. "I have seen that as an evident change in the mentality of guys getting fillers, but there still is a little sheepishness."
Improved techniques have allowed doctors to offer more customized procedures, with less downtime, Critchley says. That includes the introduction of cannulas, small tubes that can administer fillers to multiple parts of the face through just one entry point, resulting in fewer needle pricks and less bruising.
"Years ago when I first started, we were just injecting lines," Critchley says. "We take much more of a full-face approach nowadays." New products have also kept up with evolving beauty norms: in 2019, Allergan launched Juvéderm Volux, a hyaluronic acid-based filler designed with a denser consistency specifically for use in the lower face. Critchley says he uses the product for both men and women, but for men is often using a larger quantity to add width to the jawline, rather than just definition.
Fillers may be non-surgical procedures, but that doesn't mean they pose no risk at all, Linkov notes. Unlike Botox, which the FDA classifies as a drug, fillers are classified as an implant because they don't entirely dissipate, though hyaluronic acid-based fillers can be dissolved with hyaluronidase. "The aesthetic impact is there for X number of months. But the filler doesn't completely just vanish. And that's why when people keep going back for more and more filler, you start to look kind of unnatural, and you have this kind of blown up look," he says.
But as more men obtain fillers, the masculine ideal itself is evolving, even for straight, cis men, Emer adds. "If you look at trends of beauty right now, it's these male features that have a feminine kick, to find them more attractive. Softer skin, better hairline, straighter nose, a little bit larger lips." he says. "This was not the trend 10 years ago."
Some men might still be fearful of fillers making them look too feminine, the dividing line between what constitutes a "masculinizing" enhancement, versus a "feminizing" procedure, is not so firm. "I would argue that the types of injections that men and women get aren't all that different. It just depends on how the injections are done. But the general locations are kind of similar," says Linkov. "Having some feminine features in a male face, actually, is a good thing for overall attractiveness."
Some men embrace the feminine connotations of certain features. Josh*, a 27-year-old lawyer living in Manhattan, obtained lip fillers earlier this year for the first time to emphasize his already larger top lip. While he felt unconcerned about the procedure making him look more "feminine," he understands why many men have hangups about that aspect of cosmetic procedures.
"Men have so many insecurities about masculinity and that sort of thing," he says. "It's a little silly, because it's all the same surgery. It's kind of like how body washes and things like that are marketed to men-it's the same product."
*Names have been changed.
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