Why the facelift, the browlift, the chin liposuction, the lip work, laser treatment to erase spidery veins and the implants to smooth what he called "the bulldog things," the creases from his nose to the corners of his mouth?

"You know," he said, "you get tired of looking tired when you're not tired."

Sweetin, 59, of Springfield, Mo., had his first face surgery about a year ago. 'I've always felt like if you can do anything to make yourself look better, you should do it," he said.

More and more men agree. Facelifts and other "rejuvenation" surgery to the face -- once associated with aging starlets and society matrons -- is becoming increasingly popular among men, even guys still in their 40s.

The American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons says its members did 5,000 facelifts on men last year, up 80 percent from 1992. Much more common is work on the eyelids, either to remove bags under the eyes or shore up sagging tissue under the eyebrow. The society counted about 11,200 male patients for eyelid procedures last year, up about 25 percent.

Then there's the browlift. While a facelift works below the cheekbones, removing jowls and sagging skin on the neck, the browlift smooths forehead wrinkles and raises drooping eyebrows. The surgical society said its members did about 1,900 of these on men last year, up 42 percent from 1992.

Kansas plastic surgeon Dr. Robert G. Clark figures he is seeing twice as many men for rejuvenating procedures as he did five years ago.

"We're seeing a lot more men having eyelids done now than we used to," said Clark, who practices in Wichita. And "I've done facelifts on these guys, they're like 65 years old, they've been a rancher all their lives, whereas you didn't just used to see that."

Still, men rank far behind women. They accounted for just 14 percent of the nation's facelifts, less than a tenth of browlifts and about a quarter of the eyelid surgeries last year, according to estimates by the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery.

What drives a man to a plastic surgeon? Well, take those turkey wattles ... please.

Many of these guys can overlook crow's feet, but sagging skin on the neck "makes them crazy," said Dr. Wayne Larrabee, a facial plastic surgeon in Seattle.

A 55-year-old Kentucky man says he mulled his "turkey gobbler look" for two years before getting a facelift last summer. "I'd thought only big shots and movie stars do this stuff," he said. "But then I looked in the mirror and I thought, 'You know, this looks really ugly and I can fix it.'"

Some men have professional reasons. Dr. William Beeson of suburban Indianapolis tells of a banker who came in for a browlift after overhearing a commercial loan customer say, "I don't want to have that grouchy-looking guy."

And a salesman told Beeson, "I would never think about making a sales call in a wrinkled suit, so I don't want to make it with a wrinkled face."

Those reasons are certainly not new. But in recent years, men are saying they want an edge in a competitive workplace. Baby boomers are getting old enough and financially secure enough for touch-up surgery. What's more, they've been working out and they want to look as good as they feel.

"The body was holding its own, but the face wasn't keeping up with everything else," said a 54-year-old Kentucky businessman who lifts weights and got a facelift last year. The man, who like most other patients interviewed for this story asked not to be identified, reckons he now looks 42.

And before his surgery?

"Let me put it this way," he said. "They were beginning to serve me senior citizen's coffee at McDonald's."

Men have also come to see cosmetic surgery as more acceptable as they read more about it in men's magazines and other publications, surgeons said.

"They're walking into the offices without pulling the jacket up over their head," said Manhattan surgeon Dr. Steven Pearlman.

The surgery isn't cheap. A facelift in Kentucky can cost about $5,000 with operating and anethesiology fees included. Clark often does a facelift, browlift and eyelid surgery at the same time, for a total cost of about $15,000.

In Seattle, Richard LaPlant, 65, paid about $9,000 a couple months ago for a facelift and surgery on his upper and lower eyelids. The retired chemical salesman says it was worth it.

"I'm really pleased ... that this big jowly thing isn't hanging down on my neck" LaPlant said.