Plump lips and the "pressure" of social networks: is it true that men enlarge their lips for the sake of likes

The thesis differs on social networks: young men are massively pricking their lips with fillers due to low self-esteem - they are covered by the same pressure of beauty standards that has put pressure on women for decades. Let's figure out what is a fact and what is a beautiful simplification.

The trend is real

The increase in demand for lip fillers among men is recorded by both Russian and Western cosmetologists. According to Florida surgeon Ryan Marks, lip augmentation this year has dramatically become one of the most popular requests from male clients, who often bring photos of stars like Harry Styles and ask for the same lips.

In Russia, a similar dynamic is noted by Moscow 24: lip correction is gaining popularity among men, especially among zoomers. The general statistics of cosmetology confirm this - according to VTsIOM, every tenth man in Russia already turns to aesthetic medicine specialists, and the injection market continues to grow at a double-digit pace.

Is it all the fault of the low self-esteem of men?

The thesis about self-esteem and the pressure of the tape is an interpretation, not a strict scientific fact. Cosmetologist Tatyana Egorova in a comment Moscow 24 gives another frame:

Zoomers often go to a cosmetologist not for a radical change in appearance, but to gain confidence and start liking themselves, focusing on what improves self-perception, and not on "problems". It's closer to taking care of yourself than panicking over Instagram filters.

Moreover, there is evidence that casts doubt on the very idea of an "imposed ideal." The study I wrote about Techinsiderhas shown that most men prefer natural lips, and popular fillers can lead to "lip dysmorphia". In a survey broken down into Mixnews, guys consistently chose natural lips as the most attractive - unlike girls, who often liked plump ones. That is, men do fillers not because other men like it, but rather focusing on the images of specific celebrities and the logic of "more - more noticeable".

Psychologists do confirm something in a narrower sense: the link between dating apps and anxiety about appearance is indeed being studied. But in the study I wrote about "Science", a noticeable effect of body perception on "success" in the app was recorded primarily in women, while for men the connection is weaker. _Naukatv

Caucasian case: secret lips and night procedures

A separate plot is Surge in demand for fillers among men in Dagestan and other republics of the North Caucasus Federal District, which Doberman.media wrote about earlier in the summer of 2025 (URA.RU, Life.ru Komsomolskaya Pravda also wrote about this). According to them, the trend launched the image of blogger and ex-MMA fighter Askhab Tamaev, known for his metrosexual presentation.

Ex-MMA fighter Askhab Tamayev

Men in the region, inspired by his example, go for lip augmentation, but demand complete anonymity: the procedures are carried out in strict secrecy, because clients are afraid of the judgment of their fellow countrymen, and are ready to pay 5-10 times the usual price for confidentiality. The cost of such "secrecy" reaches 20 thousand rubles, and the injections themselves are often done at night. At the same time, as noted by URA.RU, cosmetologists faced pressure – they tried (and are trying) to force them to disclose the names of male clients who had undergone lip augmentation procedures.

The story is indicative: in a conservative environment, where male care is still taboo, the desire to look a certain way comes into direct conflict with local norms of masculinity — and this seems to be a much more understandable mechanism of pressure than the abstract "algorithm of the social network feed."

And what about gays?

Here, the thesis about the pressure of beauty standards is much stronger – but this applies not so much to fillers specifically, but to the general body image. Исследования показывают, что геи и бисексуальные мужчины систематически более уязвимы к недовольству телом: по разным данным, от 29% до 32% мужчин-представителей сексуальных меньшинств сообщают о неудовлетворённости телом против 12–24% у гетеросексуальных мужчин.

The explanation here is not "Instagram algorithms", but the minority concept of stress: fear of rejection, the need to hide orientation, internalized homophobia. As the authors of one of the reviews put it, minor stressors can disrupt self-perception and become a risk factor for body dysmorphia. Plus, the environment: dating apps with previews-photos as the main selection filter work as an amplifier for the community, where visual assessment is already very high in the hierarchy of values. _nih

Total

The trend for men's lip fillers is real and growing, this is confirmed independently by cosmetologists, market statistics and regional stories like Dagestan. But the direct formula "social networks → low self-esteem → syringe" is a journalistic simplification: some researchers describe men's motivation more as self-care and imitation of specific idols, rather than panic from comparison with the ideal; And men themselves, judging by surveys, more often prefer natural lips.

But for queer men, the connection between the pressure of appearance standards and the psychological state is much more reliably confirmed — but it is not an abstract "tape" that works here, but a very specific minority stress.

Sources: MenToday, Moscow 24, TechInsider, Mixnews, Nauka, GazetaMetro, PubMed / ScienceDirect (Minority stress and BDD), Center for OCD and Related Disorders, URA.RU, Life.ru, Komsomolskaya Pravda (Stavropol).