January 9, 2011
Botox – or Bro-tox – increasingly popular gift for men.
What to get the man in your life is an ongoing dilemma. The go-to gifts have been gadgets, sports tickets, car equipment and the like.
But a hot item this year is Botox.
“Every time I would raise my eyebrows I would get creases all along my forehead,” 29-year-old actor Johnny Markoudakis told “Good Morning America.”
Orange County, Calif., plastic surgeon Dr. Tenley Lawton injected Botox into the actor’s forehead and around his eyes. Just a week later, Markoudakis says people told him he looked more refreshed and less stressed.
“So, thank you, to my best friend for my Christmas gift. It was awesome,” said Markoudakis.
“I got Botox for Christmas this year to see Dr. [Constantino] Mendieta in Miami,” another man, Julio Mendez, told “GMA.”
“My appointment is tomorrow and I’m really excited. I have these lines on my forehead,” he said.
And 41-year-old real estate analyst Jason Grange, also a patient of Dr. Lawton’s, said his wife decided to buy him Botox after he complained about his appearance.
“I looked older,” he said. “I looked tired, but I said ‘I don’t feel tired.'”
“She said, ‘I know what I’m gonna get you for Christmas,'” Grange said, of his wife.
He’s not the only one getting hooked. An increasing number of men are adding Botox — or, as some are calling it, Bro-tox — to their wish lists.
“Every year it seems like more and more men are getting Botox as … gifts, and it’s not necessarily the older men,” said Dr. Anthony Youn, a plastic surgeon in Troy, Mich.
“We’re seeing a lot of men … who are having these [Botox treatments] as gifts as early as in their thirties,” he said.
Last year, more than 300,000 men got Botox, according to figures released by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. That is a 10 percent increase from the previous year.
Mendieta, one of Miami’s top plastic surgeons, says that wrinkles can sometimes make men look not only older but angrier.
“They’ll inject the Botox to soften up this look to just give a more approachable appearance so in business it helps,” said Mendieta. “It helps them too in the bars when they’re trying to meet the girls.”
Who are these men joining the burgeoning boys club? Well, they’re not all who you might expect.
“A lot of times they’re men you wouldn’t necessarily see coming into a plastic surgeon’s office,” said Youn. “They’re not the stereotypical guy who really, really cares about grooming and exactly how he looks.”
Take Marc, who asked that his last name not be published. He works at a chemical company in Detroit.
“I do a lot of industrial type work, getting dirty. … And I restore old cars,” Marc told “GMA.”
Marc’s far more likely to be landscaping than “manscaping” — careful grooming associated with so-called metrosexuals. But, at age 38, he started noticing some wrinkles.
“We were looking at old pictures … and I said, ‘Man, I’ve aged these last couple of years,'” Marc said.
Marc’s wife, Julie, agreed.
“I think Mark looks great, but he did mention he noticed he looked a little bit older,'” she told “GMA.”
So, while Marc wanted a chainsaw for Christmas, Julie had another idea.
“The card was very nice,” Marc said. “But then there was a little note that said … ‘Botox’ on it, and I was a little shocked. … It’s just not anything I thought I would do for myself.”
When Marc told his brother Scott, there weren’t any fist-bumps.
“[Scott] was kind of puzzled,” said Marc. “He looked at me kind of funny.”
Before long, Marc was in Youn’s office, ready for his close-up.
“This is how you look now, before your Bro-tox,” said Youn. “Now, look a little angry.”
While Marc took his gift in stride, Youn said that’s not always the case.
“If you’re gonna give plastic surgery as a … gift, make sure that the person actually wants it … because some men might take it poorly,” Youn said.
A few days after his Botox treatment, Marc’s crow’s feet were less noticeable, and his fine lines were almost gone.
Marc is pleased with the result. So what about next Christmas?
He still wants that chainsaw, but is not closing the door on other beauty treatments as gifts.
“If they had a good hair system, I might take her [his wife] up on the hair,” he said.
