Which Cosmetic Treatments Are Appealing To Modern Men?

Women have long dominated the world of cosmetic treatments. Out of 9,480,949 BOTOX® and other wrinkle-relaxing injections performed in 2023 by respondents to an annual professional medical survey, for example, a full 8,911,511 of them were for female patients. That certainly doesn’t mean men are left out, however. In fact, the 569,438 wrinkle-relaxing treatments made for men indicated a 6 percent increase over the same numbers from 2022. That seems to show that interest is not only there, but rising when it comes to treatments for men. Madison, WI’s Radiance Skin Therapy dives further into the data to explore what men have been choosing for themselves—and what that means for practices and their patients.

A Look at the Numbers

The annual survey breaks responses down into categories, lumping all examples of a certain type of treatment into one group, such as neuromodulators. BOTOX®, Dysport®, Xoemin®, Jeuveau®, and Daxxify® are all in the same grouping, which took a collective first place in the general survey results, as well as in the men’s section in particular.

Next on the list of popular treatments for men were skin treatments, including a note specifying “combination lasers.” Indeed, this category is almost something of a light-based catchall, since it includes treatments for patients looking for a way to remove unwanted hair, seeking to reduce the visibility of their tattoos, collapsing veins that can be seen through the skin, targeting sun damage and redness with intense pulsed light, and more. Skin treatments totalled 487,349, which went up by 15 percent.

Another catchall category came in third for men: skin resurfacing. This was an exfoliation-heavy group, marked by dermabrasion, chemical peels, ablative and non-ablative lasers, and microdermabrasion. Still, it clocked in at 242,600 applications of various types, up 7 percent from the year before.

While hyaluronic acid-based dermal filler injections came in second for women, they came in fourth for men, who opted for 145,933 treatments throughout the country—up 3 percent.

Finally, in fifth place sat non-hyaluronic acid-based dermal filler injections. These include injectable collagen stimulators, with Sculptra® and Radiesse® being notable examples. The count for this was 105,705 treatments performed in 2023, up 2 percent from 2022.

It should be noted that there was also a sixth minimally invasive procedure on the list: sclerotherapy for targeting visible vessels. A sclerosing agent is injected into the unwanted veins, which ultimately shrivel and collapse so they are no longer visible. There were 28,354 of these treatments performed in 2023, which was an increase of 5 percent.

Is There a Difference for Men?

While the survey report shows us data, it doesn’t reveal the way men are asking for their treatments to be performed. Women may want a more youthful face when they seek out BOTOX® or fillers, but men typically want to look refreshed, healthy, and hardy as opposed to younger.

Some of this may have to do with a masculine desire to project an air of authority. In other words, leaving some wrinkles in place conveys the accumulation of wisdom and experience, which can be valuable in the workplace, in a man’s dating life, and elsewhere. Erasing lines for an overall smooth surface changes the image being projected to the world.

Men’s treatments may also involve different doses and techniques than women’s, since men’s skin is thicker and muscles are denser. A man who wants to smooth his forehead’s worry lines could require more of his wrinkle-relaxing medication of choice than a woman would.

Keeping all of this in mind is paramount to ideal results, no matter the treatment chosen or how popular it is.

Want to learn more about minimally invasive cosmetic treatments for men—or anything that appealed to patients in the annual survey? Contact Radiance Skin Therapy and Laser Center by calling 608.240.0088 or sending a contact form online to set up a meeting or visit.