A total of 34,187 procedures were carried out last year - up five percent from 2007, according to the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS).
Although women continued to account for the vast majority of cosmetic surgeries, operations to flatten ‘man-breasts’ were among the fastest rising.
Operations to increase the size of women’s breasts went up by 30 percent, but there was a 44 percent rise in the number of men who went under the knife to reduce ‘man breasts’, or moobs.
Eyelid surgeries were down 10 percent, face and neck lifts were up 1.7 percent, and tummy tucks were up 30 percent, BAAPS said.
Surprisingly, while many other parts of the economy are shrinking, the overall number of people undergoing cosmetic surgery has kept increasing since 2003.
Men appear to be one of the drivers of this growth, with big jumps in men having ear correction, eyelid surgery and brow lifts, said BAAPS Secretary Rajiv Grover.
Describing the rise in breast reductions and brow lifts as “dramatic”, Grover said: “This may be due to heightened media attention, which has allowed men to realise the positive outcomes that can be achieved”.
Bryan Mayou, another London cosmetic surgeon, said the increase in moob jobs shows “men are addressing the problem rather than living with it and the low self-confidence it can bring.”