If we ask you to name a country where the body is worshipped… which one comes to mind first? Are we taking a big risk if we say Brazil? Maybe it wasn’t your first option, but it was surely among your choices. It makes sense, considering that it is the second country in the world (the first is the USA) where the highest number of cosmetic procedures are performed, especially gynecoplasty.
That is why we were not surprised to read information stating that every two minutes a man goes into the operating room to undergo cosmetic surgery, according to data provided by the Brazilian Society of Plastic Surgery (SBPC), specifically by its director, Luiz Henrique Ishida, in statements to the newspaper Estado de São Paulo.
The figures are striking: in five years, between 2009 and 2014, this type of surgery has quadrupled, increasing from 72,000 to 276,000 procedures per year. In total, in 2014, 712,902 surgical procedures were performed in Brazil, and almost a quarter of them, 22.5%, were carried out on men (compared to 12% in 2009).
What are Brazilian men looking for?
According to data provided by the SBPC, the most requested procedures are gynecoplasty (breast reduction), liposuction, and eyelid surgery. Most patients are between 20 and 50 years old, but there are procedures that are highly desired by adolescents: 80% of gynecoplasties are performed on boys in this age range.
We want to pause for a moment on that percentage: 80% of those who undergo gynecoplasty are adolescents.
And we do so because we want to remind you that, during adolescence, gynecomastia is a normal condition: it is estimated that approximately 65% of adolescent boys experience it due to hormonal changes, although it usually disappears once puberty ends.
Gynecomastia can also appear in adults due to a hormonal problem, although in this case it is not related to the changes of puberty, but rather to an increase in female hormones (estrogens) at the expense of male hormones (androgens), caused by various conditions (lung cancer, liver diseases, testicular cancer, among others).
In addition, it is important to differentiate between adipose gynecomastia (which occurs due to an accumulation of fat) and true gynecomastia (caused by the presence of mammary gland tissue).
From this, it follows that our job consists of accurately determining the causes, explaining to the patient whether it is a temporary or permanent condition, and offering the most appropriate treatment.
If you would like more information, contact our team at Clínicas Fernández Blanco by calling 915 54 09 24 (Madrid) or 952 850 468 (Marbella, Málaga).
Dr. Alfredo Fernández Blanco
The plastic surgeon Dr. Alfredo Fernandez Blanco stands out in his branch of medicine, as the best breast surgeon, he is also a pioneer in the so-called secondary surgeries or sequelae. With more than 30 years of experience and thousands of successful cases, he continues to achieve the most natural results that can be expected in a cosmetic surgery operation.
