Could going under the knife boost your career?
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It’s not just fresh young ideas that have career value nowadays — could a face untouched by life or time be a résumé booster?
It’s not just women lining up for fillers and facelifts — guys, too, want to keep up appearances in the office with a little knife work.
“I’ve had a good number of male patients who have it done specifically to improve work prospects and their professional lives,” says New York City-based plastic surgeon Dr. Matthew Schulman.
“It’s shown statistically that there’s discrimination in the workplace after age 40. The pressure to be young is very, very real,” says “Paul,” 45, who works in e-commerce and wishes to remain anonymous. He says he started getting Botox to boost his confidence at work. “When senior management are 28- to 32-year-olds, you do everything you can to compete.”
Many men in their 40s and 50s are going in for treatments, but 74-year-old Murray is still active in his business and opted for a neck lift.
“I wanted to take off some years,” says the New Yorker. “I am very happy with the results. Many people I’m talking to in business are 25-30. You have to have credibility. They don’t want to talk to their grandfather — their uncle maybe, but not their grandfather.”
How it works
“They’re competing with 28-year-olds, but it’s not like we’re going to make them look like they’re 28,” says Dr. Schulman. “Men can age and look more distinguished, but at a point they look tired and saggy, and don’t exude vitality and look worn out. It doesn’t give the right impression. Just like you go to work in a pressed suit, and get a good haircut, men don’t want to neglect their faces.”
