Baz Gascoyne comments on the rise of men having cosmetic surgery

Baz Gascoyne

Imagine you had three wishes and all of them had to be things that you would like to change about yourself. What would they be I wonder?

Would it be to lose the beer belly, have more hair on your head, to be taller or shorter, to be more handsome? To change some aspect of your appearance possibly?

I'm amazed what extremes men will go to change how they look. Due to worry about their appearances men are apparently going under the knife and having cosmetic surgery. In the UK the number is increasing annually. From chin implants to create a strong chin to enhance their careers, or liposuction to remove love handles, a saggy chest or to flatten their stomachs, to nose jobs, removing bags under eyes, ears being pinned, hair transplants, breast or calf implants, Botex injections, facelifts, pectoral implants to create a six pack or a penis enlargement, as we all know the bigger you are the better man you are!

There seems to be a global crisis amongst men: how insecure we have become about our physical appearance. Some of the things you and I don't like about ourselves we can do something about such as if you are overweight like me then we can decide to lose some. Recently, Ricki Gervais was asked about his weight loss and how he had achieved it: "I ate less and exercised more," simple but effective. For some it will take hard work to get fit and lose weight. For others it may be about embracing the ageing process. I have been going grey since I was 13yrs old: yes 13. I am now totally white haired whilst also going bald, but will refuse to have a comb-over which looks so ridiculous especially those from the back of your neck to the front of your head! Stop it men, please! You are not helping our cause!!

I can only assume that the reason most men have cosmetic surgery is down to not feeling confident about how they look, which affects how they feel about themselves. I think if we allow ourselves to be honest about what's going on internally and deal with them our external issues would not feel as extreme as we think they are.

A few years ago my anger about something was affecting me in so many ways I decided to go and see a counsellor. It was the best thing I ever did. The counsellor enabled me to see the root of the anger and why it manifested in various ways: it was about something totally different to what I originally thought the issue was. Seeking help to discover the main issue and deal with it helped to defuse the anger I felt too. Seeking help is a good thing to do.

Please don't get me wrong: I want to look smart in my appearance and will make every effort to lose weight and dress well but let's stop trying to be another man and start becoming the man God intended us to be. He is totally for you and committed to you. The greatest thing I have discovered is that God knows all about us and our insecurities and pain and is still totally for us: we do not need to try and impress him with how we look. Good news for at least one person I know who's typing this article!