Beauty Doc Blog

Americans spent almost $12.2 billion last year on cosmetic procedures  including almost 11.5 million surgical and nonsurgical procedures according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.

Since 1997 surgical procedures have increased by 98 percent, with the top five surgical cosmetic procedures last year being:
1) liposuction 403,684 procedures
2) breast augmentation 383,886 procedures
3) eyelid surgery 209,999 procedures
4) abdominoplasty 172,457 procedures
5) breast reduction 145,822 procedures

These procedures have become almost commonplace, and while more men than ever are undergoing cosmetic surgery, woman still dominate the field as patients.  In 2006 women had over 10.5 million cosmetic procedures, 92 percent of the total number.    Men however are taking up the slack in cosmetic surgery.

The top five surgical procedures that men opted for last year were:
1) liposuction
2) rhinoplasty
3) eyelid surgery
4) male breast reduction
5) facelift

More procedures are performed on people from ages 35 to 50 than other age groups, making up 47 percent of the total number of procedures.  Those ages 19 to 34 had 22 percent of the total number of procedures and those from ages 51 to 64 had 25 percent.  Those over age 65 had only five percent of procedures performed and the smallest number was those age 18 and younger, with less than two percent of the total.  The most common procedures for the younger set, those 18 and younger were laser hair removal, rhinoplasty, chemical peel, microdermabrasion and otoplasty, or ear reshaping.

Interestingly only 25 percent of procedures last year were performed in a hospital, with 29 percent performed in a free standing surgery center and 46 percent in a doctor’s office.

Racial and ethnic minorities opting for cosmetic surgery find their numbers up a bit as of last year, with an increase of two perfect from 2005 for a total of 22 percent of all cosmetic procedures performed.  The breakdown according to ethnicity is Hispanics at 10 percent, African-Americans at six percent, Asians at five percent and other non-Caucasians at one percent.

Of course all of the figures given above, courtesy of the American Society for aesthetic Plastic Surgery or ASAPS are rounded so they may not equal an even 100 percent, but are very close.

It is plain to see from the figures available that cosmetic plastic surgery is becoming increasingly popular and much more accepted by society.  Most estimates are that the numbers will continue to climb as the population increases and ages.