Plastic Surgery Statistics

Many people wonder about how common plastic surgery really is. Since the methods of performing plastic surgery have become more and more refined, you're less likely to realize when one has a plastic surgery operation. To that end, in this article, we'll be discussing some hard numbers that relate to plastic surgery so that you can understand exactly how prominent the procedures are.

In the year of 1999 alone, the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery noted that it's doctors and surgeons had performed almost 11.9 million cosmetic procedures. Of these procedures, 18 percent were surgical and the remaining 82 percent were non-surgical.

Between the years of 2003 and 2004, the widespread use of plastic surgery grew by leaps and bounds. Between these two years there was an increase in the number of plastic surgery operations of 44 percent. The number of surgical procedures being performed grew by 17 percent, and the number of non-surgical procedures grew by 51 percent. If that data sounds significant, consider how much plastic surgery has grown since 1997: since then, the total number of cosmetic procedures being performed per year grew by an amazing 465 percent. Of that number, surgical procedures saw a growth that was roughly 118 percent, and non-surgical procedures increased by a whopping 764 percent.

In the year of 2004, the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery noted how often various procedures were performed. Their results showed that the number one plastic surgery procedure that was being performed was liposuction. After liposuction, breast augmentation was the second-most common procedure. Eyelid surgery came in third for 2004, followed by rhinoplasty and face lifts.

The reasons that men and women get plastic surgery vary to a great degree. For women, the top five most common procedures undertaken, in order, were liposuction, augmentation of the breast, eye lid surgery, tummy tucks, and facelifts. Men, on the other hand, had a very different list of most-performed surgeries. Liposuction was the most common procedure, followed by eyelid surgery, which was heavily desired by both sexes. Next came rhinoplasty, followed by male breast reduction operations and hair transplantation.

We all know that plastic surgery can be expensive, but you may be amazed at the amount of money that is spent on plastic surgery across America on a yearly basis. In 2004 alone, Americans spent about  12.5 billion dollars towards cosmetic procedures.

While women have plastic surgery more often than men, men still account for a large number of the plastic surgery procedures being performed. Roughly 1.2 million cosmetic procedures were performed on males in 2004, representing 8 percent of all plastic surgeries undertaken in the year.

As far as non-surgical cosmetic procedures go, the most commonly performed in 2004 was botox injections, which work to tighten the muscles of the face, causing an individual to appear younger with decreased wrinkles. The next most common non-surgical procedure was laser hair removal, followed by chemical peel procedures and microdermabrasion. The fifth most common non-surgical procedure was the use of hyaluronic acid.

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