Scalpel Please – Big Jump In Plastic Surgery Patients in 2010 Due to Improved Economy | AccessRx.com Current Health News Blog Online

By Brian Bujdos

All of the most popular cosmetic plastic surgery procedures, as well as reconstructive plastic surgery as a whole, saw an increase in the U.S. in 2010. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) reported their final tallies for 2010 this week, saying that an uptick in the U.S. economy has led people to spend more money to improve their appearance.

ASPC President Phillip Haeck, MD, said there was a pent-up demand for cosmetic surgical procedures.

“People have waited a couple of years or more to have procedures, until their finances were at least somewhat back in order,” he said. “But all indications are more consumers are again willing to spend more to look better.”

Overall, cosmetic plastic surgery procedures, including both minimally invasive and surgical, rose 5 percent to 13.1 million in 2010. These included almost 1.6 million cosmetic surgical procedures and 11.6 cosmetic minimally-invasive procedures. Also in 2010, 5.3 million reconstructive plastic surgeries were performed, an increase of 2 percent over 2009.

One reason people may be heading back under the knife is that the job market, and the work environment in general, is so competitive these days. Haeck said people are feeling more and more pressure to stay, or get ahead, professionally – especially as they age. And the U.S. population is certainly aging, at a historic rate.

Baby Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) are getting up in their years. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there will be about 72.1 million people 65+ in the U.S. in 2030, almost twice their number in 2007, and roughly 20 percent of the U.S. population.

Face lifts, for example, totaled almost 113,000 in 2010, a 9 percent jump from 2009.

Of course many procedures, such as breast augmentations and some of the other most popular cosmetic surgeries, are also being performed on younger people. The number of breast augmentations rose 2 percent in 2010, and 60 percent of the procedures involved silicone implants.

Here’s a look at the most popular procedures in 2010…

The top five cosmetic surgical procedures:

Breast augmentation, 296,000
Nose reshaping, 252,000
Eyelid surgery, 209,000
Liposuction, 203,000
Tummy tucks, 116,000

All surgical body contouring procedures were up in 2010, according to the APSC. For example, there were:

90,000 breast lifts, which was a 3% rise
10,000 lower body lifts, up 9%
15,000 upper arm lifts, up 5%
9,000 thigh lifts, up 8%

The top five minimally invasive cosmetic procedures were:

Botox type A, 5.4 million
Soft tissue fillers, 1.8 million
Chemical peels, 1.1 million
Laser hair removal, 938,000
Microdermabrasion, 825,000

The use of injectables remained robust, Haeck said. Botox and Dysport injections were up 12 percent, and fat injections (using a person’s own fat) were up 14 percent.