Statistics and the Latest Trends in Plastic Surgery

If you have any doubts that Plastic Surgery is truly mainstream medicine, look at these statistics from the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. The number of procedures performed by plastic surgeons in 1997 was 2,099,173. In 2003 that number was 8,251,994. You may be interested to know which procedures, both surgical and non-surgical, showed the largest increases. These figures are from 1997 to 2003.

• Liposuction: an increase of 117% [176,863 to 384,626]
• Eyelid Surgery: an increase of 68% [159,232 to 267,627]
• Breast Augmentation: an increase of 177% [101,176 to 280, 401]
• Botox Injection: an increase of 3387% [65,157 to 2,272,080]
• Chemical Peel: an increase of 50% [481,227 to 722,248]
• Collagen Injection: an increase of 79% [347,168 to 620, 476]
• Laser Hair Removal remained the most common procedure.

Plastic Surgery procedures in the past have heavily favored women and continue to do so. About nine of ten patients are women, but many men have come to feel that plastic surgery procedures are “not for women only.” The procedures they chose are more expensive, with as little down time as possible from the workplace. When interviewed, one of four men explained that the reason for their getting plastic surgery was work-related reasons. That, as compared to 10% of women with that motivation. For 57% of women and 45% of men a more youthful appearance was their motivation for getting plastic surgery.

The 2003 survey of the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery included the following information about Plastic Surgery Trends.

• 36% of plastic surgeons saw a couple that underwent surgery together.
• 25% saw a mother and daughter who had surgery together.
• 31% saw a patient who received plastic surgery as a gift.
• 6% saw sisters having plastic surgery together.
• 4% saw friends having plastic surgery together.

And some additional facts from the study . . .

• The most common surgical procedures are on eyelids and noses.
• The most common nonsurgical procedures were Botox, microdermabrasion and chemical peels. Rhinoplasty (nose “jobs”) have increased 46% since 1997.
• Most patients have plastic surgery performed in the winter.
• Thirty percent of plastic surgery patients have had previous procedures.
• Forty-seven percent of plastic surgery patients have had several procedures in the same year: