Man boob

Reading the Telegraph this morning, new figures to be published will show an 80 per cent rise in breast reduction operations carried out on men. The annual audit by the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) reveals its members carried out 581 male breast reductions last year, up from 323 in 2008. Five years ago just 22 such procedures were performed on men. The procedure is now the third most popular cosmetic operation for men behind nose jobs and eyelid operations to remove fat. With BAAPS representing about one in three cosmetic surgeons, the actual number of gynaecomastia operations – to give the 'man boob' or 'moob' procedure its official title – probably exceeds more than 1,000, making it a multi-million pound business. Breast reductions for men have gained in popularity, prompted in very large measure by the highlighting of the issue among male celebrities in possession of 'moobs' in the popular press. Photographs of Jack Nicholson flaunting his 'man boobs' on beaches and yachts on the French Riviera or else the likes of Tony Blair and Simon Cowell bearing their chests on holiday have propelled the issue into the public's consciousness. Often the male celebrities have been mocked in the process. Only last week, Ricky Gervais, the comic writer and actor, was giving interviews in which he bemoaned his own appearance. "I don't want to see this body. Nobody does," he said, adding: "I went down to my boxer shorts in my last film. Yes, there were some breasts – but they were big, hairy and mine." The procedure typically costs about £2,000, takes about an hour and a half and involves the removal of as much as a litre of fat. The increase in the number of operations – given the cost – is all the more remarkable given the economic downturn but may also reflect the rise in obesity levels in recent years. Rajiv Grover, a consultant plastic surgeon and BAAPS secretary who was in charge of putting together the organisation's annual surgery audit, said: "This year we have recorded a dramatic rise in a number of male surgical procedures, probably due to heightened media attention, which has allowed men to realise the positive outcomes that can be achieved." In total, men accounted for 10 per cent of all cosmetic procedures undertaken by BAAPS members in 2009, undergoing 3,623 operations. 'Moob' jobs represented about one-in-six of those operations.