Expert Spotlight

Dr Steven Liew
Plastic Surgeon

Male aesthetics

If you are a guy wishing to look your best or fresher and more youthful, consider getting an expert consultation with a cosmetic clinic that understands male aesthetics. This is because what is considered to be attractive in men is not the same as what looks good in women, according to Sydney plastic surgeon, Dr Steven Liew.

“If you look at iconically handsome men in the world such as Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Richard Gere and Antonio Banderas, you’d find that they all share rather similar facial features,” Dr Liew explained.

“They tend to have a squarish, chiselled type of facial shape. Their skin texture tends to be coarser than women’s, and have some minor wrinkles and folds.”

Dr Liew said men’s eyebrows tend to be lower and slightly heavier, and with some hooding beneath the brow. Their eyebrow shape veers towards being horizontal rather than flared or arched, as with female brows. Furthermore, men’s cheeks tend to be wider but are not as prominent as women’s.

Understanding male aesthetics is important because men who undergo cosmetic procedures generally still wish to look masculine, Dr Liew noted. To achieve this, he takes a ‘conservative’ approach to facial rejuvenation in men.

“I soften their lines, folds and wrinkles but don’t completely remove them. In suitable patients, I use fillers to replenish some of the loss of volume in the cheek without exaggerating the cheek prominence. I may also use fillers to improve their facial shape by giving them a more angular jawline,” he explained.

Compared with surgical procedures, non-surgical procedures have the advantage of having minimal downtime, according to Dr Liew. “Depending on the procedure, most patients can go back to work either within the same day or the following day.”

He outlined some of the key non-surgical treatments for men as follows:

Skincare
“The most basic regimen includes some sort of exfoliating cleanser – my favourite being one with a glycolic acid. It is also important for men to use a sunscreen with some moisturising and antioxidant properties,” he said.

Intense pulsed light (IPL)
Dr Liew recommends IPL, which involves using high intensity pulses of visible light, in patients who have severe pigmentation to “give them a kickstart in removing most of the pigmentation.”

Anti-wrinkle treatment
“Anti-wrinkle treatment is great to prevent and treat forehead and frown lines,” said Dr Liew. “However, we do not want men to have a feminised look so I like to see some minor residual wrinkles.”

Fillers
Dr Liew uses fillers to treat tear troughs (hollowness under the lower eyelid) as well as in the cheeks to provide sufficient fullness so that patients look more youthful yet still masculine.

Combination treatment
Finally, Dr Liew encourages most of his patients to have a combination of treatments that complement each other.

“The most common combination is the use of anti-wrinkle treatment and fillers because they lead to a long-lasting and much better cosmetic outcome,” he concluded.