Men getting implants!

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Does this sound as stupid to you as it does to me? Pleeeeeeze! Okay, well, if they want to join us, they will be welcome here....for sure some of them will be getting as sick as we are....

Patty

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1 & c=Article & cid=1035774672082 & call_pageid=968867505381 & col=969048872038

Nov. 22, 2002. 01:00 AM

More men implanting bigger pecs`Enhanced' chests on the increase Cosmetic surgery finds new market

MARTIN MILLERSPECIAL TO THE STAR (not his real name) is talking from New York City (not his real home) about his chest (not his real muscles). When was a kid, he felt skinny. He didn't think his chest was big enough. Even after four years of swimming for his university, it wasn't big enough. Even after lifting weights for 20 years, it wasn't big enough. "I got compliments on my arms, legs, back, everything but the chest," said the 5-foot-9, 180-pound investment broker. That changed about nine months ago, when the 49-year-old Los Angeles resident decided to get pectoral implants. It turns out the pair of palm-size solid silicone discs were enough. "I'm like a peacock strutting his feathers," said , who requested anonymity because friends don't know he had the procedure. "I feel more positive about myself than ever and I'm not self-conscious any more about wearing an open shirt.'' As North American men confront a barrage of images of pumped-up male perfection, plastic surgeons say a growing number are willing to pay anywhere from $4,000 to $10,000 (U.S.) to put in what God, genetics or exercise left out of their chests. Precise statistics on the number of pectoral implants, or "male chest enhancements," performed in the United States are unavailable because the trend is still young. "Give it five years, you're going to see a lot more pec implants," said o Olivardia, a Harvard psychiatrist who co-wrote The Adonis Complex: The Secret Crisis of Male Body Obsession, which concluded that a growing number of men feel shamefully ugly because they consider themselves to be too fat or too underdeveloped muscularly. Last year, nearly 1 million American men elected to have cosmetic surgery, a figure that represents almost 15 per cent of the overall plastic-surgery market, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. "Men want to achieve that magazine look (in the chest), and if they can't do it through discipline, they'll try it through other means," said Dr. Josh Korman, a plastic surgeon in Mountain View, Calif., and a clinical faculty member at Stanford University Medical School. "People want a quick fix.'' The opaque implants are made of pliable but solid silicone — a different composition from breast implants for women, which are typically filled with saline. As one plastic surgeon put it, if a female breast implant is a 2 on a hardness scale of 1 to 10, the male implant is about a 5. The implants, which come in a variety of shapes and sizes, are tucked under the pectoral muscles by one of two surgical methods. First, in the endoscopic method, a long, thin tube cuts through the crease of the armpit to the chest. Through this mini-canal, the camera-equipped endoscope places the implant into the chest. Or, in the traditional method, small incisions can be made just under the armpit and the implant is inserted. The procedure typically takes less than two hours and is usually performed in the doctor's office under general anesthesia. Patients often can go home about two hours after surgery and are instructed to remain in bed for 24 hours. Normal activities can be resumed within a week and patients are advised to wait at least six weeks before returning to vigorous activities. Implant surgery comes with roughly the same risk of complications for men as it does for women, according to plastic surgeons. Excessive bleeding or fluid buildup around the implant occurs in 1 to 2 per cent of cases. Infections also occur in 1 per cent of cases. And most men have a viable option to surgery — pumping iron at the local health club. "I tell (potential implant clients) they should start in the gym," Korman said. "A woman cannot make her breasts any bigger. But a man can make his chest bigger by exercise. You just have to do it.'' Los Angeles Times