Brotox: Why Are More Men Getting Cosmetic Procedures?

[MUSIC PLAYING] Welcome, everyone. I'm Dr. John Whyte, chief medical officer at WebMD. We've all been seeing a lot of ourselves lately-- Zoom, Skype. It seems we've been taking a lot more selfies than we did pre-pandemic. Well, joining me to discuss this focus on ourselves is Dr. John Layke. He is a board-certified plastic and reconstructive surgeon. Dr. Layke, it's nice to see you.

Good to see you. Thank you so much for having me.

Got to start off with something I read the other day-- Brotox. Right? We tend to think of women doing a lot in terms of cosmetic treatments, but there's a lot of men doing Botox. Is that right? What are you seeing?

There definitely is. I think there's an exponential increase in the amount of Botox that is given to men. I think that long-standing adage that men age like fine wines has slowly changed. And even though it still may be true, the idea is that we look at our counterparts and say, why should they get to look younger and we stay the same? So we see a definite uptick in the amount of men coming into the practice.

Has the pandemic changed that? Is that's what's causing the rise for men, because they're also seeing themselves a lot, in terms of our social media and Zoom calls? What do you think is going on here?

Definitely. I think the pandemic was a fishbowl. It allowed us to see ourselves on a continual basis for the first time. And most of us, a lot of guys, you look in the mirror once when you leave, and you look at in mirror once when you're brushing your teeth at night. And now, you saw yourself all day long, people who were on Zoom meetings and Microsoft groups and Team meetings. And usually, cameras were set up-- most of the cameras in our computers, believe it or not, actually bow out our faces a little bit. And then, in addition--

So my face looks wider? Is that what you're saying?

Sometimes it does, unless you have a professional camera on the end. Most computers tend to do that. And so the other issue is that most people are looking at laptops and iPads. And the worst possible scenario is that you're looking like this, and your neck looks like an accordion. And people say, all right, enough is enough.

And distance matters. How far should we have that laptop when we're looking at ourselves? Do I need to [INAUDIBLE]?

So listen, the further away, the better. But unfortunately, that's not the case. As evidenced by our backgrounds here, we want to see more of the person. And you're either going to be as close as possible to the camera or you're going to sit further back away. There's kind of between the three and five feet tends to bow us out a little bit. So that's why they always say camera adds 10 pounds. It's because the lens itself is slightly beveled, and can make us look pretty bad.

What about when we're doing a selfie? How far should we be holding it?

Selfies are a different ballgame. With all the filters now, you may not even recognize yourself by the time you get through Instagram filters. So I think an appropriate selfie should probably be as far as you can get arm's length.

So Dr. Layke, what's your advice, then, to people who come in, and they may feel they're unhappy with how they look, particularly their face, their neck, their eyes, things that they're seeing all the time throughout the day that they didn't before, and then you think what you're seeing on some of these cameras is not a true representation of what you really look like. So what's your counsel to them? What do you say when someone comes in and says, hey, Dr. Layke, I don't like the way my neck looks, or I don't like the wrinkles I'm seeing on my forehead, or I look too-- now I look too fat. Now I know why. What's your counsel?

I think I like starting people off slowly. So let's say this is your first time coming in the office. Obviously, there's some hesitation. People, you can see their heart rate go up, and palms get sweaty. The idea is everyone should start off with a good skincare regimen. So outside of a good cleanser and sunscreen, obviously, the idea is you should probably have three staples in your skincare line, men and women. The idea is one is a concentrated vitamin C type serum. Vitamin C is important as an antioxidant, is involved in collagen synthesis. And it helps brighten the skin, as well. The second--

Can't just eat oranges?

You can stick to oranges. Listen, that's a great thing. You know, obviously the sugar comes with it, which isn't necessarily bad. But I think that the idea is you want that as part of your regimen. Second thing is you want a retinol type of solution at night, whatever serum you want to use, something that's not too harsh for your skin. But the idea is you want to increase cellular turnover. And so that's a very important part of a skincare regimen.

[INTERPOSING VOICES] I want to interrupt, first, if I may, on retinol. Does that matter if you're 20 versus when you're 50?

Well, listen, when we're in our 20s, we use it for a different reason. The idea is you want to increase cellular turnover so you have a decrease in the amount of acne buildup that can happen. And so when we're older, we want to slough off some of the dry layers. And so again, we're using for different reasons, but ultimately it's the same mechanism to keep healthy, bright skin.

And then the third thing that you need is a good moisturizer. [INAUDIBLE] the idea of a good moisturizer, that when you place it onto your face, 5 to 10 minutes later, your skin feels relatively dry. If it feels dewy or you're too wet, then it's probably heavily silicone-based, and it's basically just sitting on the outside of the skin. So--

Do it the morning and at night, or just one time?

Well, it depends on your skin type. Obviously, for people with oily skin, we'll probably stick a toner in there, here or there. And you have to imagine, listen, we have all kinds of combinations of skin. Some people have dry, some people have oily, some people have combo. And so there are little things you throw in that can help each one of those categories.

And so the idea is, if you have oily skin, probably not going to want to put moisture on it all throughout the day. You may want to limit it to just once in the morning. And so for people with very dry skin, obviously, you can put it on twice, three times a day. Especially in the winter periods, you really want to help hydrate and moisturize your skin.

All right, so I'm going to be honest with you, Dr. Layke [INAUDIBLE] so I'm an internist. I see patients. I can't get men to wear sunscreen. And I talk about it all the time. Now, you're saying men should be using three products a day, once or twice a day. Why is it so hard to get men to have this skincare strategy that you're recommending?

Well, because it's never been stressed before. The idea is it's always been a female thing. If you look back in the day, for Avon cosmetics, it was heavily marketed just solely to women. And times are different. And the idea is, listen, men have skin, too. And now we're starting to realize that, listen, as our lifespan and health span increases, we'll have the ability to live well into our centigenarian years. So do you want to look that old, or would you rather enjoy yourself, you know?

And so I think that at least the focus has now changed. Instead of-- even the markets for skincare, we have our own skincare, Beverly Hills MD. The idea is that skincare used to be marketed 95% to women. Still pretty heavy market, but now we see a budding male market. So if we can get up to 25%, 30%, that's a significant contribution. So I think we're going to see a rise in that, and eventually it's going to be 50-50.

When men come in to see you, what are they seeing you about that's different than when women come see you?

The interesting part is I think women have more education on plastic surgical or cosmetic procedures, just because they've been marketed to in the past. It's Instagram, everywhere you look. And now, men are slowly starting to learn more and more. So when we look at Brotox, or Botox for men, or we look at minimally invasive skin treatments, such as microneedling with radiofrequency, anything to help tighten skin and increase collagen production, or if you look at men who are now saying, look, increase in rhinoplasty, increase in liposuction, these are all procedures that were predominantly women. And now, the pendulum has switched and shifted.

And so when men come in, the idea is they still have this fear of looking strange or operated on, anything like that. And of course, we understand that. But now, men are much more willing to undergo a procedure to get a desired result.

I want to ask you about the role of how one looks plays in one's mental health. We know the pandemic has caused a lot of people to struggle with mental health issues.

Sure.

And what's the benefit that we have here in terms of, if you feel better about yourself-- and some of that can be how you look-- that actually can help in your overall wellness? Talk to us about that.

Of course. Listen, we already know that there are multiple studies that have been published that show that the more attractive or youthful individual gets the better job, has a higher income, better social life. There are common phrases like I have a good hair day. These are things that are automatically set in our minds as we grow and listen especially to media outlets.

And so I think it translates into a confidence. And confidence allows-- it's like an internal trigger. It allows you to do more, but it also is received by other individuals as being successful, youthful, they have that stamina. And so I think these are qualities that can be sensed by other people. And that's why aesthetics and the way we look and appear are very important to our outward personalities.

I want to ask you, are there certain things that consumers should be on the lookout for that potentially could be harmful? There is a lot of misinformation on the web about ways to improve your looks, improve your skin. What have you seen over the years that you advise patients, hey, like, that's a big red flag, and this is why you want to go to an expert such as yourself [INAUDIBLE].

Listen, I think-- yeah, I had such a blast. I was doing an interview, and they were showing me all of the DIY skincare tips using foods and different things around the household. And I had such a laugh because to put some of the things on your face to try to get the desired outcome, to me, was absolutely hilarious.

Do cucumbers not work? Yeah. I think I've never seen so many food products go on the face. And the idea is twofold. I would say to look out for some of those things, I would always say, if you're curious about how you can improve the way you look, usually gimmicks are fads. If something sounds too good to be true, it is. You know, with the PDO threads and things like that, where you're going to get a facelift in 30 minutes, listen, I've seen more complications from that and more infections. They last three to six months. That's just one example.

What I would say is, if you are serious, I would go to a board-certified dermatologist or go to a board-certified plastic surgeon. And the idea is say, look, I may not want to have a surgical procedure, but how can I look more youthful, and do it safely? And they'll tell you. I mean, it's as simple as that.

That is some great advice. Dr. Layke, I want to thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts about how we view ourselves and how we can make some changes, especially for men, and do it safely.

Of course. Listen, let's put our best skin forward.

There you go. For more information, you can always check us out on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Thanks for watching.