Professor Gemma Sharp

He was referred to Gemma because he had recently gone through a breakup.

And he was quite convinced that the reason for the breakdown was his penis size.

And he thought that that would really...

solve his relationship issues.

It was really clear with speaking with him that he had a sort of understanding that the cosmetic procedure really wasn't going to solve these relationship issues and that other pathways needed to be taken.

And I was, I suppose I'm always remembering that one because it was just so clear that something else was going on and that the cosmetic procedure probably wouldn't have benefited him that much.

Yeah so I mean I don't know what happened to him all these years hence but he decided not to have the penile augmentation at that time and pursued his own individual therapy with my support which I thought was a really great outcome.

From my own research and the broader literature, we do see that men will often talk about overall self-confidence, overall self-esteem, sense of self as motivations more commonly than women will.

And I think it's often phrased as like an improvement rather than managing a deficit or an appearance concern.

And I wonder if that just may be how males communicate their concerns.

Like it's just, oh, there's nothing wrong, but I just want to feel better.

It used to be more kind of hair replacement, removement of man boobs, penile augmentation, liposuction, abdominoplasty, pectoral muscles.

And just thinking more recently, seeing more kind of chin implants, people wanting that very chiseled chin look.

Yeah, I think so.

With men, they're looking for those, I suppose, very strongly masculine features.

And those are things that are often enhanced and emphasised when people post on social media.

I should say I'm not trying to promote my business here at all.

I just think that...

Cosmetic practitioners are sometimes a little bit cautious about referring to a psychologist.

They don't want the patient to think they're quote unquote crazy or something like that, which is unfortunately a common response by patients.