Men's nose jobs get a news job!

Thye headlines say more men are choosing plastic surgery. But the stats show it's still a very tiny minority.

True, in 2007, 17.5% more plastic surgery procedures were carried out on men than in 2006 but this is still a very small total number: 2,881 operations in total. Nine out of ten plastic surgery ops are on women, according to figures from the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons.

Rhinoplasty - nose jobs - continued to be the top procedure for men, with 716 undertaken by BAAPS members (up 36% from last year) but the biggest percentage rise in men was for tummy tucks and it is this figure that the media have been getting so excited about. Yet the rise of 61% translates into fewer than 100 tummy tucks - just 98 to be precise.

There's also been a lot of talk about so-called 'Moobs' or man boobs. Commenting on the increase of 27% in male breast reduction surgery' Nigel Mercer, the president-elect of BAAPS and a consultant plastic surgeon, told The Times: 'We have been seeing more men with gynaecomastia in recent years. There are a variety of reasons for male breasts getting bigger, these include a rise in obesity, a rise in drinking and potentially, more female hormones in the environment.' All true but still only a tiny number of men -224 - resorted to surgery to reduce their breast size last year.

The top five surgical procedures for men in 2007 were: rhinoplasty (716), liposuction (582), eyelid surgery or blepharoplasty (558), ear correction or otoplasty (418), and face/neck lift (230).

For women the top op continues to be breast enlargement (6,497 procedures were carried out during 2007) while facelifts had the largest increase - up by 36%to 4,468.