Is the “Glutemaxxing” Trend Inspiring Men To Get Plastic Surgery?

Men’s asses are having a moment. Sure, all those steamy nude scenes in Heated Rivalry certainly played a role, but it can also be traced back to the rise of the manosphere, which has allowed red pill language to successfully and unfortunately integrate itself into the zeitgeist: Mewing, mogging, and looksmaxxing being the best examples. The latter has inspired a slew of other -maxxing terms related to boosting one’s physical attractiveness, including eyemaxxing, tanmaxxing, and the increasingly popular glutemaxxing, a practice that aims to maximize the size, strength, and aesthetic appeal of one’s posterior.

Men are at the forefront of the sculpted butt movement—numerous outlets have reported that this is partly thanks to the growing conversation around longevity (strong glutes support mobility, prevent injuries, and can reduce knee and back pain). It’s also become a hot topic on social media, with many tracking their progress or doling out advice to achieving juicier glutes. A majority of these dudes wanting to grow their gluteus maximus (and the medias and minimus, of course) are heading to the gym. They may also be heading to the plastic surgeon’s office.

“We've noticed more men asking about the buttock area lately, and many of them bring up social media directly,” says Dr. Luis Macias, MD, double-board certified plastic surgeon in Los Angeles. “What they're asking for is more projection, a fuller, more athletic shape, and better definition, not the feminine look associated with BBLs.”

A Brazilian Butt Lift is usually performed with liposuction of the abdomen, back, and flanks, says Dr. Johnny Franco, MD, board-certified surgeon in Austin. The fat is then processed and transferred to the buttocks and hips, resulting in more of an hourglass shape. “That combination allows us to sculpt the waist and reshape the surrounding areas while adding volume where patients want it,” he says. “It’s about creating an overall silhouette.”

Instead of BBLs, Dr. Macias says men are mostly requesting fat grafting and Alloclae, an injectable that’s derived from donated cadaver fat. (After more than a year on the market, there have been scattered reports of Alloclae complications, like lumps and cysts, but mostly in patients who have it injected in the breasts.) He says the donor fat option is “appealing for lean, athletic men who don't have much fat of their own to transfer.” Since the donor fat comes ready to use, surgeons don’t need to harvest fat through liposuction, resulting in less downtime and possible reshaping of the body. Other companies create donor-fat injectables, like Britecyte, which is slowly gaining momentum as an alternative for face and body injections, due to how it’s processed. As with Alloclae, there’s limited clinical human data on its usage.

Dr. Franco has also seen more men in general who are inquiring about glute procedures. He says weight loss from GLP-1s and the current “wellness wave” is a big part of that. “Patients are dealing with Ozempic butt, that loss of volume after weight loss, and it affects both men and women,” he says. “Butt treatments have really taken off.”

Like Dr. Macias, Dr. Franco says more men are interested in Alloclae injections because they’re less invasive and offer more targeted enhancement with less downtime. “Being able to improve their shape with a less invasive treatment has opened the door for men who might never have considered a butt treatment before,” he says. “In our practice, the conversation is more and more about restoring shape and getting that fit, athletic look."

More invasive procedures aren't the first choice, but the stats are looking pretty peachy there, too. A new report on cosmetic trends from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) says BBLs for men are a small-but-growing procedure, having increased 48% from 2024 to 2025. That still pales in comparison to the amount of BBLs women got in 2025 (over 25,000, while men only got 550), although neither figure includes injectables like Alloclae. Regardless of which route men are exploring, they aren't ones to talk about it—most videos under the glutemaxxing hashtag tend to show more squats and lunges than trips to the surgeon’s office.

Dr. Andrew Cohen, MD, a board-certified surgeon in Encino, says he hasn’t seen any significant uptick in men coming in for a more bulbous bum. Dr. Melissa Doft, MD, a board-certified plastic surgeon in New York City, says she hasn’t either, although she notes there are more men looking to get work done on other areas of their body. They’re mostly entering her practice asking how they can highlight their jaws and flatten their chests, and also are inquiring about rhinoplasties and otoplasties (also known as ear-pinning).

It’s similar for Dr. Sean Doherty, MD, FACS, board-certified surgeon in Boston. While he admits he’s seen an increase in male patients asking about gluteal enhancement, he’s cautious to equate the rise of glutemaxxing with an increase in men actually going under the knife. “In my opinion, a much smaller amount of male patients actually go through with these surgeries,” he says.

Although a big draw to the glutemaxxing trend is to look athletic, most men are using it to feel athletic—something more easily achieved in the gym than the surgeon's table.

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