The American Society of Plastic Surgeons recently released data from its annual survey showing that the number of surgical and minimally invasive cosmetic procedures performed in the United States is up 2% in 2015. And what’s that number? It’s 15.9 million. Yes, that’s right. There were 15.9 million procedures performed in our country alone!
While most plastic surgeons, including myself, aren’t all that surprised by this number, what is interesting is the shift in procedures and what issues (body parts) patients are most interested in addressing. Below are some highlights from the survey that I’d like to share with you:
Lifts Lead the List
For many years, the term plastic surgery seemed to be synonymous with facelifts. And, while facelifts certainly remain a very popular procedure, the latest survey statistics showed that other types of lifts were gaining momentum. For example, breast lifts are up by 89 percent (99,614 in 2015, up from 52,836 in 2000), buttock lifts are up 252 percent (4,767 in 2015, up from 1,356 in 2000), lower body lifts are up 3,973 percent (8,431 in 2015, up from 207 in 2000) and upper arm lifts are up 4,959 percent (17,099 in 2015, up from 338 in 2000).
The Top 5 Cosmetic Surgical Procedures
While procedures like upper arm lifts and lower body lifts have shown substantial growth (as outlined above), for the first time since 2000, facelifts slipped out of the top 5 most-performed procedures last year, and tummy tucks have found their way in!
Of the 1.7 million cosmetic surgical procedures performed in 2015, the top 5 were breast augmentation (279,143 procedures, down 2 percent from 2014, up 31 percent from 2000), liposuction (222,051 procedures, up 5% from 2014 but down 37 percent from 2000), nose reshaping (217,979 procedures, unchanged from 2014, down 44 percent since 2000), eyelid surgery (203,934 procedures, down 1 percent from 2014, down 38 percent since 2000), and tummy tuck (127,967 procedures, up 9 percent from 2014 and 104 percent since 2000).
The Top 5 Minimally-Invasive Procedures
Among the 14.2 million cosmetic minimally-invasive procedures performed in 2015, the top 5 were: Botulinum Toxin Type A (6.7 million procedures, up 1 percent from 2014 and 759 percent since 2000), soft tissue fillers (2.4 million procedures, up 6 percent from 2014 and 274 percent since 2000), chemical peel (1.3 million procedures, up 5 percent from 2014 and 14 percent since 2000), laser hair removal (1.1 million procedures, unchanged from 2014, but up 52 percent since 2000) and Microdermabrasion (800,340 procedures, down 9 percent from 2014 and 8 percent since 2000).
The Derriere Dominates
The new ASPS stats showed that 2015 was another year of the rear, as procedures focusing on the derriere dominated surgical growth. Buttock implants were the fastest growing type of cosmetic surgery in 2015, and, overall (on average), there was a buttock procedure every 30 minutes of every day! The top buttock procedures in 2015 were buttock augmentation with fat grafting (14,705 procedures, up 28 percent from 2014 to 2015), buttock lift (4,767 procedures up 36 percent from 2014 to 2015) and buttock implants (2,540 procedures up 36 percent from 2014 to 2015).
Men Getting Breast Reduction?
Yes! For the first time ever, men accounted for more than 40% of breast reduction surgeries! In 2015, there were 68,106 breast reduction surgeries in the United States, and for the first time men accounted for more than 40 percent of those procedures. A total of 27,456 breast reduction surgeries (Gynecomastia) were performed on men, representing a 5 percent increase over the previous year and a 35 percent growth since 2000.
I always look forward to seeing the ASPS stats each year and seeing how the national figures relate to our own practice. For the most part, our numbers (in terms of which procedures are the most popular), are right in line with what the ASPS is reporting.
