Manchester has been many things over the years, an industrial heartland, a football paradise, as well as a living symbol of the UK's rainy weather. Now, according to a survey by Manchester TV, it is the hub of male cosmetic surgery in the UK. Like all surveys, we must take the results with a pinch of salt especially since the survey was sponsored by a cosmetic surgery clinic, but the fact remains that a lot of the Mancunian male population are seemingly unhappy with the way they look.
55% of Mancunian men claim to either already have had some form of cosmetic surgery or are planning to get a procedure done in the future. Now with a total population approaching 3 million, I can guesstimate that at least 750k would be men in the 20-50 age range and 55% of that would be a lot of potential customers for local cosmetic clinics.
So, what do these Mancunians want to get fixed? Certainly their hair. Here they have a role model in Wayne Rooney their local footballing hero who famously went on a hair transplant journey. I use ‘journey' in a figurative sense – he didn't go to Istanbul or Delhi – his journey was of the spiritual sort that celebs emote about to the tabloid press. His ‘journey' did, however, have a huge impact on mainstreaming hair transplants in England and presumably also in the Manchester homeland.
Rhinoplasty came next in the wishlist closely followed by the stomach, as body parts they most wanted to change. This I can also understand, Manchester is a ‘red zone' for obesity in the UK and thus a potential goldmine for clinics offering liposuction and gastric sleeve procedures. Also, male breast reduction (moobs) figures high on the wish list. Indeed, according to figures from Transform Clinic who sponsored the survey, Gynecomastia (male breast reduction) accounted for 11% of their male surgery last year.
A quick Google search shows a huge number of clinics offering hair transplant procedures which do make it seem rather like Istanbul but certainly more expensive. I know from talking to companies active in cosmetic surgery tourism that many top hair transplant clients do hail from the Greater Manchester area so demand is obviously there. In researching this article I have realised that I need to do a complete set of listings for Manchester to recognise the vast hub it is for male cosmetic surgery.
Admin is Blogger David Miller FRSA. M.Sc A respected British journalist based in Helsinki Finland. David's portfolio is at http://livewire.pressfolios.com/ David is contactable via the site or at david@dmiller.co.uk
