Got to have a cut corpse, lying flat-abbed and hard in the coffin, taking that important meeting with St. Peter with ripped pecs and an enigmatic botox smile.

The number of men electively seeking cosmetic improvement increased 16 percent between 2000 and 2004 - the year that 1.2 million American men beckoned surgeons with sharp, gleaming knives to carve their flesh into more pleasing configurations, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.

What surgeries are tops on men's must-redo lists? In order of request, they are: nose reshaping, hair transplantation, eyelid surgery, liposuction and breast reductions, the society says.

Plastic surgery is being ordered up by financially well-off guys in their 40s and early 50s - the youngest baby boomers. Like others of this generation, they cannot abide the notion that they are no longer 25.

Psychologists tell us that the increased marketing of plastic surgery, all those makeover TV shows, and even women's deep and hungry need for nip/tucks have contributed to men's burgeoning desire to self-sculpt.

"Narcissism is a powerful thing," notes Long Island men's psychologist Harold Pass. "And plastic surgery mitigates the fear and anxiety of facing one's mortality. Also, men believe they'll be able to prolong their careers if they look younger."

Such surgeries are becoming more mainstream, Pass says. Not among Wisconsin dairy farmers, maybe. But they're all the rage in places like Manhattan, where legions of guys feel that only faces sandblasted to a suave, peaches-and-cream smoothness can secure them the best jobs, women and restaurant tables.

When they shave, they see the imperfections, not their true selves. I can't blame a person for wanting to eradicate the flaws so he can find the AWOL young man within.

Whatever gets you through the night, guys. Just don't make too many changes at once. And for goodness' sake, don't let the sawbones cut anything below the waist.

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