Podcast Recap – Exploring Trends in Men’s Aesthetics
In this episode, we are joined by Marisa Stringer, NP-CANS, and Kevin Harrington, MSN, APRN, FNP-C, for an engaging discussion on the rising trend of cosmetic procedures among men. As societal views on masculinity evolve and social media’s influence grows, more men are seeking aesthetic enhancements. Our guests delve into the shifting dynamics of the industry, emphasizing how practitioners can capitalize on this growing market by directing part of their focus toward male patients. They explore effective communication strategies tailored to men, the role of partners in influencing decisions, and the emerging trends that are reshaping male aesthetics. Additionally, they highlight the importance of creating a welcoming environment for men and the critical need for practitioners to have a solid foundation in aesthetic practices to successfully cater to this expanding demographic. Tune in to gain valuable insights into how the male aesthetic market is evolving and how you can adapt your approach to better serve this population.
Watch the vodcast: https://coremedsource.com/core-matters-in-healthcare-podcast
Link to blog recap and transcript: https://blog.coremedsource.com/podcast-recap-body…/
Listen to the episode on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/core-matters-in-healthcare/id1731150126?i=1000674194653
Listen to the episode on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/03wFGjYRCc7L6esjxK1CVV?si=90db82c23e274941
Transcript:
Signe Monson
Hello and welcome to Core Matters in Healthcare. I’m Signe Monson from CoreMedSource. And today we have another really great topic to discuss. One that’s not only trending, but it’s also reshaping ideas about masculinity. And I think that you’re going to be intrigued. So it is the growing trend of cosmetic procedures for men. So…
We’ve all heard about Brotox, right? But I read that the men’s medical aesthetic industry has reached $14 billion in 2024. And it’s projected to reach $20 billion by 2030. So, you know, with those kinds of numbers, I think it’s safe to say that this is no longer a niche market, right? It looks like men are really starting to invest in their appearance.
And this is an area that practitioners can really capitalize on by shifting part of their focus, I think, right, to be directed right at men. So to discuss this topic today, I have with me Marisa Stringer, who is a dermatology and aesthetic nurse practitioner from Pine Belt Dermatology. And she is also our very own CoreMedSource APRN director. Hi, Marisa.
Marisa Stringer
Hi.
Signe Monson
And we have Kevin Harrington, who is an aesthetic nurse practitioner from FaceTime Aesthetics. Hi, Kevin. Welcome, welcome. Thank you for joining us. We’re thrilled to have you on CoreMedSource. I know you’ve done a lot for this industry and have a lot to talk about. we’re kind of honored to have you on here today. So thank you for coming on and discussing all this with us.
Kevin
Hello, thank you.
Signe Monson
So anyway, I have something I wanted to start out. I have, I guess, a little anecdote that when Marissa brought this topic up, this is the first thing I thought of. I know someone, I have a friend, a guy friend who is a real guy’s guy. And he’s someone that you would think doesn’t ever think about his skin. The kind of person that would maybe let the water hit their face in the shower, maybe when they were in it.
and not definitely not someone that you would ever think would get Botox, but he does. And not only does he get Botox, but he’ll talk about it. He doesn’t care. He’s like, sure. He’ll talk about it. And there’s so many women that I know who get it that aren’t quite so open about it. I don’t know if that’s the vanity part. I’m not sure, but it’s kind of funny, right? So what do you think has sparked this change and making it
more and more acceptable to men? mean, maybe is it social media? Maybe it’s competition in the workplace? Is that finally catching up to men? I mean, what do you make of it?
Marisa Stringer
You know, I do agree and I think that this is an interesting topic to bring up because
I’ve been in practice for 15 years. Kevin’s been in practice for 23 years, I think. Kevin, is that what you said? We’ve been for a while and we’ve seen these trends. And so it’s just interesting to talk about because you look at these trends coming out and I remember when I first started injecting 15 years ago, I might, I don’t think I had any male patients and I’ve slowly seen it start creeping out into where it’s now an explosion. And I have a lot of male patients for
different procedures. And so it’s an interesting topic to talk about because I think that men are interested, but some are still into that avoiding the taboo part of it. And then some just don’t know where to go. They don’t know where to get information is what I’m hearing. So yeah, what do you think, Kevin? You’ve seen a lot, I’m sure. Have you seen any differences in trends?
Kevin Harrington
You know, I agree with you, Marissa. know, years past when I worked in Tampa, I had about five, maybe five percent mail, maybe eight percent. But it was interesting. There were mostly people, business owners, men, everything from construction companies to landscape companies that would come in. And once in a while, like Signe has said, it was for competition. There was an older gentleman in his 60s who needed to compete with a younger population in sales. But I think the trend has changed and we are getting more mail.
for a lot of reasons. Social media absolutely. I think retail. If you go into Target, there’s product skincare now aimed specifically at the male population. And I go into Target and I watch and guys are kind of looking through there. And it’s like one of them think was called, this is not a plug for them at all, but I was trying to remember some name was odd like Rugged and Dapper or something. Very odd, but just appealing to the male patient. And no women are around…
kind of influence them or other men so they feel seem to be comfortable walking through there. The other thing is I think the younger population, males, much more fashionable. There’s not as much judgment about what they look like. When I was younger, was these are masculine and this is the male behavior, this is female and I think they’re starting to cross. was something, I kept thinking of a lot of different reasons. I think also the new indications for some of these dermal fillers coming out, right?
advertisements of the company, think men are usually concerned about being masculine, jawline, chin, and these indications are coming out from these companies and they’re advertising finally the fat under their, you know, chin. They’re like, have this big gobbly thing taking care of it. So I think sometimes that may draw them also, but I am seeing a big uptake and I think also we go into weight loss now. A lot of males are coming in for weight loss with the GLP agonist, a GLP -1 agonist that we have. I think these procedures are coming in and they’re getting, like you said, social media advertising and making them aware and they’re starting to move a bit. Or their wives, which are a huge influence, telling them what to do or making maybe some comments. But I still think males in general, the older population, are a little bit more reluctant to seek information. And like you said, they don’t have the comfortability or know how to seek it out and I hear that lot with colleagues and friends of mine as I go out in social events because they ask me questions.
Marisa Stringer
Yeah, yeah. So this is good to start. So thanks, Signe, for getting us, you know, kind of going on this topic. And I’ll tell you, I agree with all the things that you said too, you know, Kevin, because what’s really interesting, you’re right, we’re talking about social media. And social media can have good and bad influences for sure. But I think for men, and I know we’ve hit on that just briefly a few minutes ago,
It’s showing so many options for men and like you said, it’s making it more appealing for men. There are
Again, there are men that are very good looking, handsome men, and then it’s a filler. It’s a filler commercial. It used to be clothing and cologne, and now it’s fillers. Now it’s skincare, like you said, in Target and places like that. And I think social media does have a huge impact on it. And also, I think…
You know, you have these stories about patients coming in and you’re right, I have patients and I’ve hit, I hit all my male patients up this week when I was injecting them. Like, okay, I’ve got a podcast coming up. This is the topic. I want your opinion on it. And I asked a range of older men.
all the way down to a younger guy. And very interestingly, the answers were all across the board. The younger guy said, well, know, it’s more acceptable now because social media has made it more acceptable. It’s made it more inviting. It’s made it more okay. It’s like you have a group of people, almost a camaraderie, so you’re comfortable saying, you know, I kind of always been interested in this. I’ve kind of wanted this, my age in their 50s they’re like well yeah I just you know I just I just wanted to do it you know and their wives their wife one of my friends his wife doesn’t even do any cosmetics she’s wanting to come in for injectables but he wanted to do it and he is a rugged guy you know does very manly has a manly profession even a dirty profession if you want to call that like you know out in the you know just
I know how to say it. Not a dirty profession, but he’s just a rugged dude. so, and then the older guy, he started getting it because his wife was doing it. So there’s like so many, yeah, I don’t know. What are your thoughts on that?
Kevin Harrington
No, it’s interesting in your, like you said, there’s so many different reasons they come in and it’s the exposure part of it. It was kind of interesting listening to, like you said, the advertisement. I think of years ago when I was younger, and the women, mostly women and even the men, men was Marlboro, the Marlboro men, which was a cigarette and he was on his horseback, right? So everybody wanted to look like him. But we didn’t have a lot of that and women had more. And if you think through the years how women have been, I would say, I hate to say negatively, but just influenced by the model choices, right? They were always the beautiful models, skinny and everything else. And I think of that with the men they’re showing now, now that has changed, which is good, but now the men they’re showing truly are, I think in general, very handsome, very sculpted, and in shape, which is a different look that we have, know, very much more in shape. I really do. But when you said that, said, yeah, I can see how much these younger guys would want to kind of aspire to look like that. And that was very interesting. You made a comment just going through the history of advertising. And we never really had that a lot for the men, but it’s much more prominent now.
Marisa Stringer
Yeah, and you know, and I agree and I think that, you know, going back to, you know, what’s bringing the guys in? That’s what’s been has been an interesting journey is some their wives drag them in and then they just let them go and then the guys just keep coming in, you know, and then some they’ll come in and they have questions. I’ve seen, I’ve heard, I don’t know, you know, what can you do? know, and it’s not just Botox. Yes, toxins, absolutely, but now they’re like, I don’t like this how this drops. I don’t like so they really are aware of the aging process and I feel like men are less comfortable with aging than they used to be, you know, so I think that it’s just a really neat trend that we’re seeing.
Kevin Harrington
Do you find with the men who come in are they How are they different? Do you think from the women that that we treat? mean, are you finding a difference in how you have to kind of approach them or to get them to talk about things?
Marisa Stringer
You know I think for me it just depends well you know they’re coming in so it’s already on the table, like they’re interested, the interest is there. And they’ll say, well, you know, this is kind of bothering me. Okay, let’s talk about this. And I think that one thing I try to explain to them, because some of them come in and they’re kind of, you know, not sure, they want to know, they’re a little bit reluctant, because again, masculinity has been very important over the years. And a lot of men are not aware enough, or they don’t know enough to where they’ll they don’t understand that I’m not here to make you look feminine. That’s I’m here to make you look and I tell them when they ask for toxins is their first treatment or first time I look you’re still going to look like a dude. You’re still going to look ruggedly handsome. You’re just going to be five ten years younger looking. That’s it. I’m just kind of taking a little bit of time off. You’re still going to look the same and you’re still going to look ruggedly handsome and they’re like okay you know.
Kevin Harrington
Yeah, do you, it’s kind of when you say that, that’s a big thing and it’s, know, men sometimes have a hard time opening up, as you know. We’re kind of different beasts. The young ones don’t seem as bad, but some of the older ones I found I was, I was injecting at a place and,
The guys, it was interesting, they came in with neuromodulator, if you will, but when a student was just me and them talking, I’m about the same age they were, especially the Spanish culture and Italian culture, just very macho, and they would open up, it was interesting, they weren’t there for Botox at all, or neuromodulator, I use Botox as a general term, but we’ll say neuromodulator.
They were there to talk more about other things like erectile dysfunction, feeling tired, know, feeling older. But it was interesting how they came in supposedly for one reason, but they opened about other things that at that place we weren’t offering, but they felt more comfortable opening up. Do you find that with your male patients that come into you? At times.
Marisa Stringer
Yeah, so that’s a good point. think that once you get them in the chair and they feel comfortable, I think, and I’ve noticed this too, and this is a different distinction between men and women, women will get in my chair and say, I trust you, I’m like, you just met me. It’s easier for women to connect and open up, but men, have to let them know it’s going to be okay. They have to kind of, I think, gain your trust a little bit to let them open up a little bit more, especially being a female.
that’s where that differs between men and women. So yes, I agree. When you’re sitting there and you have a male in the chair and they are asking questions, I find that it does start with one thing and then before you know it, it’s this, this and this. And it may not happen in the same visit. It may take a couple of visits and that’s okay. That’s how it should be. It should be a natural progression of trust, I think, when it comes to your injector in general. But I have noticed with male patients, it does take a little bit longer.
they do start to open up and then they have other issues.
Kevin Harrington
You know, it’s interesting as a male injector, right? Because typically it’s mostly females. So I get a male in my chair. Of course, I treat them and I shouldn’t, but I have a slightly different demeanor with them. You know, with guys, depending. Of course, it depends. And I think we have to read the person, of course. But in general, a little bit more to the point. Not as rambling, specific and men are kind of interesting if they commit they commit very different than the females I find you know but males if they truly commit to you and they’re not going to commit they’re not going to say I’m doing this until they’re ready to do it now mine we’re talking stereotype or in I shouldn’t even say just generally because of course there’s always exceptions and but I that’s what I find
I just, like I said, I changed my approach. With women, I changed my approach. I was raised by four women. So with women, I’ve become a little softer, a little bit more, I may choose different words.
but with the male patients, once I read them, because we had to read and see how they’re talking, but I will change behaviors at point to make them feel more comfortable, which is, you just have to be good at reading, I guess your patient, right? But do you find anything, are you always the same, or do you kind of massage that also?
Marisa Stringer
I think, yeah, that’s a good point. Yeah, I think my approach is a little bit different when it comes to that. is, I’m going to say…
It is a little bit different. Again, with women, are a little bit more trusting upfront. They really are. And like I said, the thing where they’re like, I trust you. like, I just met you. Thank you. I mean, I’m here for you no matter what, but it’s just so easy for them to just put it all out there. And so for men, I agree. It is very different. do I talk to them in a different way? I mean, maybe not. I mean, I might be a little more to the point because, but again, you’re right.
read the room. You have to kind of see because there are some sensitive men out there too where if you kind of get a little to the point you could hurt their feelings. So I agree exactly and I’ll tell you something else this is interesting and and I’m sure you’re probably seeing this too because you made a good point when you had mentioned having males come in for neuromodulators but then they’re like I have this I have this question I have you know weight issues eject you know like you know ED problems, things like that or whatever, hair loss is huge. Huge. It is for women too and I struggle with androgenic alopecia but men it is such a big thing for them and so I see a lot of male patients coming in for hair loss and we do offer some treatments for that. So I don’t know what are your thoughts on that?
Kevin Harrington
Huge. Yeah, and you know, we had in the beginning, talking about kind of why we’re seeing more male patients or why they’re more interested in maybe talking about with their friends. But I agree. think hair restoration or transplantation is huge. You know, I always laugh, females have their typical issues and males have their typical. For males, hair is one of our number one. I mean, it just is. So if we can preserve it, if we can
may get thicker, whatever, it’s a big deal. know, it truly is. So yes, and I think the procedures being offered now, like hair restoration is being targeted more, like you said, more to males. But you know, you’re right, females have a huge issue with this. And maybe once again, maybe it’s being ignorant and stereotyping. And I think we do this a lot because I know I have a lot of, since I work in the villages, I have a lot of older patients and the females always struggle with that, with alopecia. But the male, I think that’s a big one that’s drawn a lot of males in, and when they see it and the other one is really ED and really the size of their penises and this is a big thing that you know people are starting to do or have been doing for a long time it started out in the Asian countries especially Korea but from the for male penis enhancement with dermal fillers right so these things are drawing men in which is it’s quite interesting I do not do that but I have enough on my plate. But it’s interesting that I think procedures are drawing them in and of course if they have something done guys when they’re in groups will talk about certain things. You know if they’re getting their hair stuck and come back they may talk about or if they did go get a penis enlarge they’re brag all about it. Just like a woman they had their breasts done they pull them up. Guys are the same way, as women are with their breasts guys are with their penises it’s just how it is.
Marisa Stringer
Exactly. Are you seeing that more with the older population?
Kevin Harrington
You know, the older population, it’s more of rectal dysfunction. and, some are being the size. just don’t, like I said, I, I, know, I have a strong passion to get into more of, would say male menopause, “manapause.” We’ll call it “manapause.” And it’s because we’d go through ours just like menopause. go through menopause. We truly do as you well know with the changes in hormones. however, I just have been doing my specialty for so long, that even though it’s a passion, I just don’t have the energy. So I brought somebody else to work with that. But we do see a lot, especially with the older population. In the villages, it’s kind of like, I don’t remember the statistic, but like one man to say every 10 to 12 female or 15. And men are interesting as we get older. When we’re younger, I find females want to get married when you’re, soon as they meet a guy, they date them, they love them, they want to get married. Now that changes, it seems, the majority of the time with my older population, it’s the exact opposite.
it. Though men, their wives will pass away and they need a woman to take care of them. So they have, they just want to get married and this is a big deal for them because they want to be able to perform also. But it is, it’s quite interesting, like I said, and it’s kind of fun because we’re, you know, we’re making a lot of generalizations of course with what we’re speaking about but there are stereotypes are based on some truths and that’s what I find older and the younger kids, like I said, I don’t find that a lot with the, I haven’t, I don’t have a lot of younger people. So I can’t say that, but I don’t really hear of lot of male enhancement procedures being done on 20 year olds. It seems like when you get a little older and you know, how about yourself?
Marisa Stringer
Yeah, that’s it. Yeah, no, same, same. you know, you’re right. You know, we’re making generalizations, but we’re also speaking on our own personal experiences. So, you know, this is what we’re doing. We’re, you and I are just talking about what we’ve seen and possibly what is going on in the world around us that we’re, that we’re seeing possibly could be trends. But you’re right. The generalizations are we’re talking about what we’re seeing and so these are the things that we are seeing personally in our practice but no you’re right I think same I have older men coming in that want correction that are dating you know it’s just neat I found it a very interesting trend to kind of watch gradually over the years and then how it kind of subsets into the ages of men the different things that they’re
looking for and the different things that affects them. Like for example, social media mostly for younger guys. The middle -aged guys is their friends, you know, and the older guys. I have friends or patients that’ll come in like, yeah, I told my guys that we were cooking out the other day. I’m like, y ‘all need to come get your Botox, you know, or et cetera. So it’s kind of neat. like I said, asked, I kind of polled my male patients last week and this week.
like hey you know you’re sitting here in my chair what are your thoughts on this you know and and the older ones the ones that are not in their 20s were like yeah you know it’s we talked about it as friends now they pick their parties they’re you know their social circles he said you know one guy was like I don’t really discuss it with my guys at my garage
But in certain other circles, we talk about it like it’s no big deal. Or like if we’re golfing, we talk about it. So I think it just kind of depends. There’s still, think, a taboo out there with certain social circles for sure.
Kevin Harrington
Yeah, and like you said, like we were speaking about, you had mentioned with the older population. Sometimes, you know, guys, like I said, probably my age and older are a little bit more reserved. Not always, but speaking about things like that. And the other thing I find that we start offering HRTT, RT, hormone replacement therapy, testosterone replacement therapy. And that has drawn a lot of men in, which translate into the other procedures we offer.
And that’s usually when they open up Adriana is the other nurse practitioner works with she does mostly the HRT TRT and then they’ll start opening up and talking about it So just thinking about the different ways that men have come into the practice Now compared to 20 years ago or 15 years ago. It’s it’s different. I mean the companies Allergan was a big one years ago that started trying to get bring in the male population say but do some targeted commercials I can’t say many
men drove in. I never had a man come in because of the commercial. However, I still think it build awareness and after seeing it so many times, think it made maybe the men think, look, I’ve got to kind of kick up my game. Or like Signe was saying in the beginning, I think competing if you’re a lawyer, a salesman, I don’t know.
CEO maybe looking for a date like you had said earlier these guys are
looking for things to make them look and feel better. And I find that a lot more men now, I can talk them into skincare, which I could before. But I think it’s because they were, skincare was always presented in a multifaceted way and made it very complicated. But if you notice all the trends in the stores, retail, it’s very simplistic. It’s one to two, maybe at most three steps, at most. Because men typically have to be very, it has to be very simple and very easy to follow and you can’t because it’s hard enough as to do anything but it has to be very simple so I think the way we’re even looking at men and changing the way we present information and there have been presented that way from more of a commercial side has really I think influenced my practice anyway. Do you find that?
Marisa Stringer
Yeah, think that’s actually good point too, Kevin. And that’s another, you’re right. So, and honestly, there’s some women that need one or two steps too. So.
And then there’s some obviously that I’m sure could do 14 steps and they’re okay with that. I’m not that person. I’m not that person. But I think you’re right. And I also will, let me also say this too. you know, for men coming in and the whole reason why I had this idea for this podcast was my boyfriend. He, now that we’re dating and I’m in skin and derm and all the things, he’s got so many questions and he’s very interested and he’s my age.
you when you ask him.
how did you come to this point? Well, I’ve been interested, I just didn’t know where to go. There’s so many options. When you look on social media or advertisements, there’s so many skincare companies, and I even have patients say, hey, what do you think about this skincare line? And I’ll say, I’ve never heard of it, because there’s so many out there. And so I think when it comes to doing a basically,
in with not knowing what can we do to enhance this you know so like what are we seeing we’ve talked about that like these trends and things and how can we explain to men that this is okay you know if you have a good injector that’s going to you know not make you look feminine you’re still going to look like a dude because of the like you said chin filler, jaw filler, the things that are going to masculinize you but I think that there is a disparity there because a lot of guys still don’t know and I think that more guys would be even more interested when they realize this is what’s out there for me and it’s okay you know so what do you think
Kevin Harrington
I agree and you know it’s always having your own practice and always trying to increase the number of patients. You know bringing male patients in has always been higher on my list and looking at different ways to bring them in and market to them. Like I said with some of the newer indications it’s been a little easier. I can’t say it’s driven out people in or men, but I’m always looking at different ways to bring them in and like I said, one in my area just because of the population is really looking at more hair restoration and erectile dysfunction.
And believe that testosterone, the TRT, HRT. But it’s for us, think, as practitioners, to increase awareness and to get more people into the practice. For me, I’m always trying different ways to bring more men in. And these are some ways I have tried. I can’t say I’ve tried seminars for men, right?
nothing has been 100 % successful, meaning I’ve got a few, but nothing has been what I thought it would be, predicting. So I’m still trying to figure out ways to get more men in because I think it’s really important, especially skin care. Everybody should be on Retinae and sunscreen. The older population, the wise will bring their husbands in, they don’t have their hair, and they all have all these beautiful brown spots over their head. Something for this, you know. But I mean, what are your thoughts? Have you done anything successful to bring people into the practice or is it the same as I’m trying? It just hasn’t been overly like the floodgates have opened.
Marisa Stringer
Same, it’s same. I will say I’m seeing more through personal interaction. In other words, the wives bring their husbands in and then the husbands will sit there and watch their wives get neuromodulators or a filler and that kind of gets them interested or the wives will just drag them in and say no you’re getting a you’re getting a toxin today. I am, are too and they stick. They actually stay because they realize it looks good. You know I’m happy this is nice you know and because I think we’re all, I won’t say all a little vain, but we all want to strive to be our best and look our best and it makes us feel our best. It’s just a confidence thing. You know, just like when you get a fresh haircut, you feel good. You’re confident. You’re more confident than you were before the haircut or you know, things like that, I think. But I feel like we do offer in June during Father’s Day, we’ll do a Brotox month, you know, and that’ll get some people in, you know, for that. But I think a lot of it right now still is going to be they’re talking to friends or their wives, some social media.
Kevin Harrington
Yeah, it’s funny, I always laugh because of course, I’m old school, but I always say I need a woman to tell me what to do. So when they I’m laughing because most of my population who are seeing me, that’s typical. The husband will come sit and the wife will say, you’re getting this today. And they sit in the chair, and they look at me and normally would ask, OK, you know, tell me what kind of how you’re feeling, what’s bothering you, all this. no, no, no. Because they’ll look at their wife and the wife’s like, do this, this and this.
Marisa Stringer
Yes! Yes! Yeah, I know, isn’t that funny? You’re right, you’re right. It’s fun – Yes, they do. When the wives are in there, they’re like, this is what he needs. He’s not going to tell you, but this is what he needs, you know? It’s so funny.
Kevin Harrington
And I’m like, that all right? He’s like, whatever she says. I all right, fine. I cracked me up. I cracked me up. I had an odd like some once in a while. It doesn’t happen all the time, but the husband will come in with a wife and you know, wives are beautiful. They just have kept up and they look great and maybe they’re 70 and the husband’s maybe 72 or even 68 and they look like slobs. They’re overweight. They have hair growing out of their nose and their ear and when that happens, I truly do look depending on their personality, but I will look and say, let me tell you something. Do you see this in front of you? This beautiful woman here? Look at yourself. Trim the hair out of your damn nose, and out of your ears and cut your eyebrows, okay? Do you wanna keep her? You need to start doing stuff. you know, of course, it’s my personality, but it’s not always that way, but yeah, and they just kinda laugh. But I’m like, come on guys, kick your game up if you wanna keep these women.
Marisa Stringer
Right, exactly. and I think, and it’s funny, and there are guys that do that. They’ll say, you know, I need to keep up with her, you know, that kind of thing. It’s just, it is, it’s hilarious. It is. And you know, another thing that’s funny too, I’ve told this story, I had a lady come in who, she had been coming in a couple of times. She brought her husband with her and he started getting it done. And she came in one day and I asked where he was. She goes, no, it was my appointment. She said, but when he found out I was
and he was mad. He was like, you didn’t make an appointment for me? She’s like, no, you’re grown. You can make your own appointment.
Kevin Harrington
So these, I mean, these are drivers in the practice and how things have changed. And, you know, we were talking about how people don’t speak about the treatments and now the guys are starting to talk about it a bit. And once again, some people don’t, but you know, years ago, as you know, even with women, they would never speak about their treatments. Very few women would talk about it. And that, of course, has been so much more open. And I think men, I think we’re slower for trends, but I think what’s happening is that now, men are starting to talk about it more with their social groups where before it wasn’t. But once again, why did the women start talking about it more and more got it? And I’m also wondering with the increase in number of injectors, right? How much influence have we had on the people we date? So if you’re dating a man, right? You’re going to eventually going to make them do something either come hey, you’re a volunteer or you know, sit down and get injected, right? Or you’re going to start getting here some skincare. But I’m curious, it’s not huge, but thinking the number of injectors, the numbers have increased tremendously since I started and since you started, but I really think that also has maybe inadvertently has had effect of course then they would tell their friends. So I think that is a small component but maybe another component, component why people feel more comfortable talking about it and getting exposed.
Marisa Stringer
Yeah, I agree, I agree and I think that there’s so much out there now and it’s easily accessible. That’s the thing. It’s easy to get to. When you talk about hair restoration, we can do that in the office now. There’s no big surgeries, you know, especially when it comes to making you more masculine. You can do it in the office. It’s an in -office procedure. It’s relatively quick. So I think the accessibility, not just what’s being offered in the office, but the population of people that are able to offer these procedures now are also changing and giving that more of a boost too.
Kevin Harrington
Do you find when the men come in in general do are there other behaviors? Do you find that sometimes you’re uncomfortable? Because sometimes the receptionist like calls their name or has them sit within a group of a bunch of women and they’re the only man do you ever feel? That sometimes that that’s not the most comfortable setting do you do sometimes make changes? As to when a male comes into your practice.
Marisa Stringer
You know, I have not yet, when it comes to sitting out in the waiting room, because I’m in dermatology. Well, and not just that, when you’re in the waiting room they could be seen for a rash. They could be seen for, you know, athlete’s foot. It could be tox. It could be whatever. But right now I will say we do offer a checkout. So when they check out, we have a side to check out for some people that have really been hammered with stuff where they don’t want to go back out into the waiting room. And I let, you know, I just let the girls know that check them out. Like, look, if they’re not comfortable, check them out here instead of making them walk around to the front of the, of the window. But, I think for me and my loc, you know, where I am and what I do, it’s a little bit different when it comes to being that way. But, but I agree. I think in aesthetics, you have to take that into effect to make people comfortable because it is still, there’s still a little bit of a taboo, I think.
Kevin Harrington
There is. I find with my and I had forgot when you’re right with derms there. So they don’t know what you’re there for. But with us, they do. then most of us went with us in our practice. if we have a male scheduled in general on the phone, they’ll say, do you feel comfortable waiting in the waiting room or would you like to be escorted into a room when you come in? Yeah, because I’ll say 99 percent of men want to be escorted into a room and they don’t want to identify what they’ve had done because sometimes, you know, the reception, I always remind them, please don’t say you’re here for your Botox or Dysport or your ZMN or whatever it is or your filler appointment or so but yeah it’s interesting we try to accommodate that way not that you have to but I find that majority of the men don’t want to be sitting out there with the women I mean I get when I go in to get my if I go get my nails done I can’t say I’m like I just get them done I don’t care but I don’t know if I’m going to be sitting there waiting with a bunch of women I can’t say I’m the most comfortable meaning that it’s still slightly awkward I really care but it’s a little awkward. It’s a lot easier now than maybe five years ago.
Marisa Stringer
Sure. Well, and I think too, like you went going back to, it’s all about the experience. You know, it’s all about the experience too. If you come, if a patient comes in and they’re made to feel comfortable, they’re going to want to come back and they’re going to want to put their trust in you. And I think that when you’re taking time to make just a little bit, just adding the little touches, like asking them, are you comfortable waiting with women? How do you feel checking out? You know, that kind of thing. Or, you know, if we, cause we do a lot of post pics that we do on social media, would you be comfortable if we crop your face or crop, you know, that kind of thing? Asking them that, I think, is just a little bit of extra that makes them more comfortable and for me it’s a bad experience. I want somebody to leave and say, I would totally do that again, you know, because of how they made me feel.
Kevin Harrington
It was interesting, Signe had mentioned about some statistics, and there was a global statistic. They predict by 2028, there will be about 115 billion men seeking prosthetic procedures. And that will be up a billion. It was I think it was 80 billion from 2022 we’re seeking who got aesthetic procedures. So that’s a huge increase that’s globally. But once again, it will be interesting to kind of go through and what’s going to drive that. What is driving this? You know, and I didn’t have time to do a lot of research to see what else was out there about what predictions were that were driving. I look at a few things, but I don’t know if I totally agreed with them.
But I think that the male population will be, we’re going to get a greater amount of, we will get more males in our practices, we just will. Because the procedures that are being done, things going into more, I hate to say regenerative, because that’s such a broad term, but looking at truly bathing the health of cells, decreasing senescence of cells, using that, and of course, looking at nutritional things that have been out for a while functional. But I really believe the future where we’re going will be more of blood testing, looking at certain markers, what people would respond to, not respond to. I really believe that’s going to be a big driver to also bring more men in, overall general wellness.
Kevin Harrington
And anti -aging, think, is going to be a word of the past. It’s going to be wellness and healthful living, maybe, vitality wellness, who knows. But I really believe as we continue on this path of aesthetics, it’s going to go take a very different turn in the next three to five years and be much more scientifically sound and found it more in science. So I really believe that’s going to be a big driver of more males into the practice also.
Marisa Stringer
100 % agree. think just in the last three years just in that we’ve seen more with, and like you said, regenerative medicine is such a broad term, but it’s more about focusing on letting your own body and your own cells heal themselves. What we can do to let your body kind of do its thing, do its natural thing and regenerate and stay youthful and healthy that way. So you’re right, there’s so much out there with that and it’s going to get better and better and it’s not just bringing women in, it’s going to start bringing the men in also.
Yeah, yeah. Well, so back to just really quickly, you know, we were talking about with the accessibility when it comes to having these procedures and we’ve talked about a lot of injectors out there and they are there are so, so many out there and just really quickly, you know, education is important, I think and I think that something that when it comes to treating male patients and female patients, it’s important to have that information and to have the right injector and to have somebody that is well -trained and that it’s just important. Education is important. We have so many injectors out there and I think that and I will say there are a lot that are jumping on all of these, you know, not just podcasts, but training sessions and they’re going to this person and this person for training. So I think that’s important. And I know that you are offering some cool stuff too, just like we all are. And I think that education is important. I don’t know your thoughts on that too.
Kevin Harrington
I do agree. You know, we’ve been in this for so long. None of us have been taught the right way. When we go to school for MP, PA, RN, but let’s go stick with clinical medical school. We learn foundational clinical knowledge before we touch a patient. It’s not three hours, okay? It can be semesters, just depending. So, aesthetics has never been injectable medicine, lasers, taught appropriately. They just haven’t. When I started it was Botox and collagen. That’s all we had. So many of that time it was fairly acceptable, but even then not. We used to do a full day on Botox. We’d inject eight patients and then the collagen we had really two choices, bovine, no bovine, non -bovine.
But even then so what I thought what can I leave behind and it’s about patient safety and quality outcomes and so I believe in foundational knowledge as a course I had developed that’s basically eight weeks foundational so it’s alive and it’s three hours worth of homework, but that’s I think eight That’s about almost 30 24 to 30 hours of foundational knowledge before you put needle to skin and the point of this is that we should no matter what we do, we should have at least that, if not more, foundational knowledge. Needle to skin is only not even 5 % of what we do. It’s understanding male, female. We call it sexual dimorphism. So this is why a lot of times we people, it’s not the fault of the injectors out there. They go places and that, like I said, my colleagues own, they’re great injectors, but that this, when they miss the foundations, this is we see problems with ratio and proportion. Whereas this is why we see some people feminizing or masculinized people.
There’s a certain thing called the golden rule you know Da Vinci kind of implemented some of his art however that was done on static paintings and stone not a dynamic movement so people learn these things but they don’t they don’t incorporate because they don’t have foundational knowledge they don’t know how to how to apply that without accepting it totally so my goal before I got out of this specialty my name is not overly important. That’s never been important to me. Money is not overly important. It’s leaving a mark on training to ensure patient safety and outcome. That’s all I care about. So I’m working with some people now, dermatologists hoping to get maybe a foundational core for dermatologist put nationally so that when they go through their training, at least they have a good foundational knowledge. There’s none out there right now in the dermatology residency programs. Same with plastic surgery, I think they should be trained. I think it should be the same with PA school and P school or in school. There should be a route to go into at least a specialty tract for this like we do in dermatology. know, so this is what my hopes are in the future, but if I have a small part in that, at least I will feel like I kind of accomplished what I wanted to in life.
Marisa Stringer
Yeah, I think that’s awesome. That is. And you know, what better person to lead that mark than you with all your experience. And I think that’s incredible. You’re a wonderful teacher. So I think, and again, I think that that is important, you know, and there’s such a balance, like you do need to have that foundational knowledge. You do need to know anatomy and how things, like you said, ratios and how things shift because it is so important. And there’s so many factors that people don’t realize. As newer injectors, they think, I’m just going to put a needle in the skin, have to understand and I’m not going to lie when I started out I was like I mean it was like good luck you know and I made mistakes you know when I had to fix them and nobody’s perfect and I would believe in say cadaver courses even I it took at least two for me to even figure out what was going on because I feel like you have to apply it equally, know, once you have a little experience in injecting and have the experience with cadaver, that’s when it kind of clicks, you know.
Kevin Harrington
We’re the same way. We had to figure it out, and I agree, Marissa, you’re the same way. You’re an amazing educator and it’s and we try to do what we can do. We all learn the same way, which wasn’t the right way, but we learned the way we were taught, which is you just stick a needle in, go here, go there and hope for the best and we know that’s not the way it should be. And we see it now. This is why we’re seeing so many things. And in today’s we have to be very cautious for non -physicians injecting. There have been a couple meetings with the government with a group of physicians and some of them were not injectors and they talked about filler safety and what can be done. And I see some of these Facebook pages with non -physician injectors posting very basic things that are very dangerous to patients – they want help, I understand, but unfortunately these can be monitored. And believe it or not, our licensure can very easily be taken away. Not our licensure, I would say the right to inject and to do what we do. So as a group of non -physician injectors and even non -core physicians, we really need to have these foundational standards in place to ensure the safety and the, I would say, continued responsibility and privilege of being an aesthetic medicine provider. It’s really imperative and these have to move quickly so there’s things that are happening behind the scenes to hopefully help with this.
Marisa Stringer
Yeah, well that’s amazing. Well I’m excited to see what’s coming up for sure. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, we are wrapping up and this has been so much fun. I would love for you to join me again. We’ll pick something cool to talk about.
Kevin Harrington
I would love it.
Marisa Stringer
Thank you so much for coming on Kevin I really do appreciate this it’s great to have your input and you’re welcome.
Kevin Harrington
Well, thanks for having me. I appreciate it.
Signe Monson
Well, great. Well, that was very interesting, you guys. Yeah, like I was thinking of a part two as well. And I don’t know if this applies. But a part two could also be breaking down some of the most popular treatments that men are getting. And if there’s tips and tricks and if it might be different for men, I thought that might be something kind of interesting we could cover. The other thing I wanted to mention is I loved hearing you guys just recently just at the end here talk about the educational part and the foundational part. I love that you guys are on the same wavelength about that. One of the things that impressed me most when I met Marissa several years ago and she we were developing this program. One of her very first things Kevin, as well was her foundational course which she already had, and she was already doing. I want to make this into a course and be in and of itself just the facial anatomy because she told me the same thing about how it’s so important and it’s not something that’s always, you know, given so much of a focus on. People just want to start injecting, right? They want to start doing it. But when I’ve created these, Marissa’s program with her, like I’ve learned so much about the face and all the different muscles and the way they move, and how that one affects that one and you can’t do an injection here right unless you do an injection here. So I love hearing both of you guys talk about that because you do hear so much these days about the other end of it, the people that the injectors that might be reckless and or untrained or new and having issues. And so I wanted to say thank you both of you for being practitioners that have that those ethics as well. Right. And the one more thing I want to mention was I also loved you both speaking about the ways that you might need to alter your communication when males come in, right? It’s kind of like anywhere in the workplace, right? Any communication, any office you work in or even, you know, your personal life, you’ve got to kind of change your communication approach, right? So for your listener, so they can hear the words coming out of your mouth and you can kind of maybe get through their filters a little bit and so you don’t lose their attention, I mean, you don’t lose their trust. So I think that that applies definitely to this because, I think practitioners out there that are working with men and treating men or might be soon or after this podcast, too, you might need to change your approach a little bit, right? Because you might have to be a little more serious, maybe not joke around. They might be embarrassed. So that is something to really be mindful of, I think. I think that’s a great takeaway and also I loved about how you guys both talked about catering to them not having them sit in the waiting room if they didn’t feel comfortable or discussing their rebooking at reception if they don’t want to I would have never thought about that until you said that but yeah I can see how that would be super embarrassing for some men right, maybe not my friend but some men, is like hey when do you want to do your next Botox and they might be uncomfortable so you never know.
But I love that takeaway. So now I’m wondering, as I often do at the end of our podcasts, if either of you want to offer up what you think maybe are one or more of the most important takeaways, kind of briefly, or any other parting words of wisdom you want to leave our listeners with?
Marisa Stringer
You know, again, I think for me, it’s males in aesthetics and it’s a trend that’s here. It’s a trend that’s growing. And like Kevin said, and like you said with the, the statistics, it’s going to get bigger. And I think for me, it’s a matter of making guys comfortable. think we all want to look good. We all want to feel our best, to be our best. And there’s so many ways out there now that we can do it, especially for men. It’s just a matter of educating and making them comfortable. You know, I think that’s my takeaway on it. What do you think Kevin?
Kevin Harrington
I’ll just echo what you just said. I agree with you. I think that’s the best takeaway. We all want to feel good.
Signe Monson
Great. We do, don’t we? Well, thank you both so much again. Kevin, thank you for joining us again, again, offering the invitation. We’d love to have you back. And thank you listeners for joining us on Core Matters in Healthcare. And we will see you soon on the next episode. Bye. Bye everyone.
