On the Wednesday, August 12, 2026, episode of The Excerpt podcast: What happens when young men pursue extreme physical perfection? USA TODAY Senior Wellness Reporter Charles Trepany joins The Excerpt for a look into the dangerous reality and health risks behind looksmaxxing.
Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.
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Dana Taylor:
looksmaxxing has exploded online over the past year with young men desperately pursuing physical perfection, from chiseled jawlines to flawless abs. At its most extreme, it involves drastic, risky measures. What is it about this moment that’s convinced so many young men their appearance needs to be fixed, and when does self-improvement turn into self-harm? Hello, and welcome to USA TODAY’s The Excerpt, I’m Dana Taylor. Today is Wednesday, August 12th, 2026. USA TODAY Senior Wellness Reporter Charles Trepany, has been closely following the rise of the looksmaxxing trend, and joins me now to share his insights. It’s so good to speak with you, Charles.
Charles Trepany:
It’s great to speak with you too, Dana. Thanks for having me.
Dana Taylor:
I gave a broad overview, but what exactly is looksmaxxing, and how did the term that really came from fringe forums end up in the mainstream?
Charles Trepany:
I think you really hit the nail on the head, looksmaxxing is all about maximizing your looks with the emphasis on maximizing, meaning that you leave no stone unturned, and you do basically everything you possibly can to get the most out of your looks as possible. It originated on forums, online, a while ago, I think about five to 10 years ago, and since then it’s really exploded into the mainstream, and went from being a fringe thing that you would hear people talk anonymously about on message boards, online, to now being just a part of our cultural vernacular.
Dana Taylor:
Social media algorithms are designed to keep people scrolling, how might a guy get pulled into a looksmaxxing engagement loop? And can you share what that is?
Charles Trepany:
I think that somebody gets pulled into a looksmaxxing engagement loop in the same way they would get pulled into any engagement loop. I think when it comes to looksmaxxing in particular, a lot of the guys that fall into it are quite desperate and lonely, and that’s sort of what drives them to these spaces in the first place. My personal speculation is that a lot of them go into these forums just sort of looking to commiserate, looking for people that understand their struggles, that they can complain with, people that get what they’re going through, and then from there, they get referred to these looksmaxxing influencers, these more specialized forums, and then it just becomes a rabbit hole.
Dana Taylor:
Well, beyond the algorithm, what makes this particular kind of self-improvement so appealing to young men right now?
Charles Trepany:
Yeah. I think that young men are really struggling right now, I think they aren’t graduating from college at the same rates as women, we know that, I think that they feel stuck financially, they feel stuck socially. And I think that if you’re a young guy looking at the world and trying to figure out, well, how can I improve my situation? Maybe more traditional methods like getting a better job or improving your salary seem out of reach, but looks, I think to these guys feels like something that they can control, something that they can just put the work in and improve in, and some of them take it to an unhealthy extreme.
Dana Taylor:
I want to get into the different degrees of looksmaxxing. What does hardmaxxing look like in practice versus softmaxxing basics like skincare or getting a haircut?
Charles Trepany:
There’s different degrees of looksmaxxing, and there’s specialized terminology for everything in most internet movements. So, as you said, there’s hardmaxxing and softmaxxing. Softmaxxing is more or less what I think people who just take care of themselves do, it sort of involves basic hygiene, fitness, nutrition, skincare, things like that, things that are more normal. And then, hardmaxxing has to do with making sort of permanent alterations, going that extra mile. Plastic surgery falls into that category. So, more fringe practices also do, like bone smashing, which has been talked about in the looksmaxxing community.
It does not work, bone smashing is not real, plastic surgeons, medical professionals are very clear about this. The idea is that you take a hammer to your face and break your bones in order for them to grow and heal back stronger and more chiseled. That’s a more fringe element, but that’s an example of a hardmaxxing practice. And again, plastic surgeons do not, not only don’t they recommend it, but they say that it doesn’t work, the science isn’t there for it.
Dana Taylor:
And then I wanted to ask specifically about rib remodeling, what is that?
Charles Trepany:
Yeah. So, it’s interesting because I think in the world of cosmetics and plastic surgery, you have the looksmaxxing movement coinciding with the undetectable era. So, looksmaxxing is a subculture specifically of men trying to improve their looks, but then overall, I think in the culture, plastic surgery is just so much more mainstream, and there’s constant innovations all the time as well. My personal view is that I think that looksmaxxing and the undetectable era are sort of feeding each other. Rib remodeling is exactly what it sounds like, it’s a plastic surgery where the ribs are remodeled, specifically the lower ribs in order to have a more cinched waistline. And it’s actually a refinement on a previous surgery that was a lot more risky called rib removal. So, rib remodeling is actually a step in a safer direction because instead of having ribs removed, you’re reshaping ribs that you already have.
Obviously it’s still risky, and it is a pretty extreme surgery. I wouldn’t say it’s a looksmaxxing one specifically, but it is coming at the same time that looksmaxxing is on the rise. And it just sort of shows I think the vortex that we’re in right now with plastic surgery and the looksmaxxing movement.
Dana Taylor:
You recently looked into the rise of risky DIY fillers. What are men injecting, Charles? Do they even know?
Charles Trepany:
They don’t, and they’re injecting everything. I mean, the most common thing is silicone. There’s looksmaxxing forums dedicated specifically to certain aspects of looksmaxxing, one of which is filler, and a lot of these guys aren’t getting filler the traditional way, meeting a plastic surgeon or a cosmetic medical professional and getting a consultation, they’re going on forums, finding ways to get materials through the black or gray market, and attempting to do it themselves to get more chiseled jaws, more aesthetic cheekbones. And plastic surgeons I interviewed said that they’re seeing a rise over the past five to seven years of guys coming into their office and needing really costly corrective procedures for DIY filler gone wrong. Most of the time what they’re putting in their face is a silicone, but one plastic surgeon told me he’s seen crazy glue, he’s seen gorilla glue, and nobody really knows for sure what they’re putting in.
And the sad irony is that another reason these guys go the DIY route with filler is because they think it’s more cost-effective, but there’s so many things that can go wrong, so many dangers, that to get these corrective procedures usually end up paying way more in the long run than if you just saw a plastic surgeon in the first place.
Dana Taylor:
I can’t be the only one wondering why the health risks aren’t getting through, I know one doctor spoke with you or that you spoke to talked about the superman complex.
Charles Trepany:
Yes. So, I asked plastic surgeons why they think these patients aren’t coming to them in the first place, and one of them said that when somebody needs corrective procedures, he doesn’t grill them or try to make them feel worse for being there, but he did say that he’s gone on these forums himself and posted as himself, and said, “Hi, I’m a high-end plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills, I need to tell you what filler actually is, why this is so dangerous…” And he basically said that his warnings fell on deaf ears, that the guys were convinced they could do it themselves. And he attributed it to something called the Superman complex, basically just thinking that you know better, you can do it better yourself. And I think since the onset of COVID in 2020, we’ve really seen suspicion of institutions, particularly health institutions all across the board.
And I personally wonder if the Superman complex in regard to filler is born out of that at all. But yeah, it’s basically, it’s all something that young people are more susceptible to, the younger you are, the more invincible you feel. You don’t really think that things can go wrong to the same degree as if you were a little bit older and wiser. So, I think that’s also to play as well.
Dana Taylor:
Is what’s now been dubbed physique inflation part of the current looksmaxxing trend? Can you tell me about that, and whether some of these trends tied to physicality or getting unfairly lumped in with the more extreme trends we’ve discussed?
Charles Trepany:
Yeah, I think physique inflation isn’t totally a looksmaxxing thing, but it is cut from the same cloth, and you see guys in the looksmaxxing community talking about physique inflation. Physique inflation is something that’s talked about online, it’s basically guys describing how they feel like what was considered a really muscular and impressive and athletic physique 10 years ago is now considered the average. And so, you have to keep working out and keep building muscle to “keep up with inflation.” A lot of guys talk about it sort of facetiously and jokingly, but then there’s a lot of guys that also take it really seriously. And for evidence, they point to how superheroes in movies from 10, 20 years ago on the whole weren’t as muscular looking as superheroes today. So, that’s part of it. I talked to fitness experts, including Jason Walsh, who has actually trained a lot of actors for Marvel movies, one of which is Brie Larson, he’s also trained Jake Gyllenhaal, Pedro Pascal, and he said that fitness trends kind of come in waves.
If you’re just looking over the past 10 to 15 years, yeah, film physiques have gotten more muscular, but then you look at the ’80s with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Predator, these completely way more massive physiques, and then you look at the ’90s, even Brad Pitt in the ’90s was still muscular, but it was a lot leaner, a lot slimmer. So, really the trends just sort of fluctuate over time. But physique inflation is something that a lot of guys are talking about, and a lot of guys in the looksmaxxing space are talking about it as well.
Dana Taylor:
What have doctors who know what it’s like to sit across from a young man who’s already done real damage to himself in this pursuit shared with you?
Charles Trepany:
That it’s really sad and really tough. I mean, it’s sort of, I think, a tricky thing for them because a lot of plastic surgeons obviously have the view that plastic surgery isn’t something to be stigmatized or something to necessarily feel bad about, but it’s always sad when someone does it incorrectly or dangerously, and then has to end up in their office. And so, they really, really just want people to be safe about it. These guys are so young, and because of the Superman complex, they can’t necessarily see consequences in 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, and it’s really sad.
Dana Taylor:
People have always tried to become more attractive, what’s genuinely new about looksmaxxing, and what does it reveal about what young men are grappling with in their lives?
Charles Trepany:
Yeah, I mean, I don’t think self-improvement is something that looksmaxers have a monopoly on, I think that most people every day are probably looking to have some kind of improvement in their lives, whether it’s walking more, maybe going to the gym more, trying different workouts, eating a little bit better… I think what separates looksmaxxing in particular from any sort of general health movement is that, one, it’s not really about health, it’s all about aesthetics, and two, there’s an ideology behind it that looks are the most important, and honestly only thing that matters. There’s sort of this overall worldview, I would say, of looks influencing every single aspect of your life. Relationships, job opportunities, career advancement, finances… They basically say that all these things are determined by your looks. And so, a lot of them who are struggling in all these other areas think that, okay, well, if I just improve my looks and everything else will get better.
That’s what I would say makes looksmaxxing looksmaxxing. Because I know me and other people have sort of thought to themselves, “Well, I have a skincare routine, am I looksmaxxing? I go to the gym, am I looksmaxxing?” But I think what separates that is really the ideology.
Dana Taylor:
Beauty standard shift, algorithms shift, what did the experts you spoke with say to young men who were chasing a target that’s designed to keep moving?
Charles Trepany:
I mean, to keep things in perspective and that it’s not worth it. And it’s a cliché, but it is something they say to think about, which is, who are you doing this for? Is it really for you? Why? I think that whenever you’re seeking to improve something about yourself, it’s always good to be self-reflective about it and honest, and to really see, is this coming from a healthy place, an unhealthy place? Am I trying to fix something else by doing this? Am I avoiding something? Is it a mental health issue? I think that these are all things to keep in mind and things that they really encourage young guys to think about.
Dana Taylor:
Charles Trepany is a USA TODAY senior wellness reporter. It’s always good to have you here and hear your insights. Thank you, Charles.
Charles Trepany:
Thank you.
Dana Taylor:
Our stories come from USA TODAY journalists across the country. We’ll back tomorrow. I’m Dana Taylor, thank you for listening.