CLEVELAND — There’s an unprecedented demand for cosmetic procedures since the pandemic, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.
In a 2022 report, more than three quarters of practices said they’re seeing an increase in patients. The data isn’t broken down into demographics, but Dr. Diana Ponsky said she’s seeing more men go under the knife than ever before.
“I don’t know if it was the years looking at Zoom or just that men in general are more aware of their well-being in all facets,” Ponsky said.
Ponsky specializes in facial plastic surgery and said she started noticing more male patients in her Beachwood practice about three years ago. They now make up about 20% of her practice.
“In my area, rhinoplasty is the most requested, followed by eyes,” she said.
Stephen Ciocca said he visited Ponsky after becoming tired of dealing with a deviated septum.
“I was struggling to breathe and when I would work out and stuff I would get winded very easily,” he said. “And sleeping was challenging because it’s tough to breathe out of your mouth all night.”
He learned he wasn’t alone in his struggles.
“My parents and some of the older guys in my family were like, ‘I can’t breathe, you don’t need to breathe, it’s fine,’” he said.
He received a septorhinoplasty at the end of 2021.
“I got all the functionality of my nose fixed, which was I think the biggest thing,” Ciocca said. “And kind of decided while I’m in there getting the function working, might as well fix the form a little bit too.”
But he admitted it felt a little unusual to receive these procedures.
“I think it’s just something that girls always do, so the stigma is around plastic surgery as a girls thing,” Ciocca said.
Ponsky said society’s increased interest in self-care is prompting more men to help shift that perspective.
“Being lean, losing weight, wearing nice clothes – that’s all made it less of a stigma,” she said. “And obviously when the celebrities in Hollywood talk more about it, it becomes more acceptable.”
More than a year post-surgery, Ciocca said he’s breathing easier with no regrets.
“I hope that some other people, now that I’ve done it, see that it’s not as bad as the perception of it might be,” he said.
Ponsky said surgery isn’t the answer for everyone and said prospective patients should have a conversation with their plastic surgeon about whether they’d be a good candidate for the procedures they’d like to have.
