In the most recent copy of the Plastic Surgery News, the statistics for procedures were reported for 2007. The total number of cosmetic plastic surgery procedures were not really different from 2006 with more than 1.8 million procedures performed for 2007. The top five cosmetic plastic surgery procedures were breast augmentation (348,000, + 6% from 2006), liposuction (302,000, no change from 2006), rhinoplasty (285,000, – 7% from 2006), blepharoplasty (241,000, + 3% from 2006), and tummy tuck. (148,000, + 1% from 2006)
Non-invasive or minimally invasive procedures continues to rise across the board with nearly 10 million procedures performed in 2007, a 9% increase over 2006. The top five minimally invasive procedures were Botox injections (4.6 million, + 13% from 2006), injectable fillers (1.1 million, +35% from 2006), chemical peels (1 million, – 4% from 2006), laser hair removal (906,000, + 2 % from 2006) microdermabrasion. (897,000, + 10% from 2006)
Plastic surgery procedures for different ethnic groups continues to rise also. Almost one-quarter of all cosmetic procedures were performed on non-Caucasian patients in 2007, an increase of 13% from 2006. This breaks down to the following ethnic groups, Hispanics (1 million, + 8% from 2006), African-Americans (850,000, +8% from 2006) and Asian-Americans. (770,000, + 6% from 2006) While the majority of cosmetic patients remains Caucasian women, there are now nearly as many Hispanic patients as total male patients in general.
As for the top five procedures based on gender, females choose breast augmentation, liposuction, rhinoplasty, blepharoplasty, and tummy tuck in that descending order. Men choose rhinoplasty, blepharoplasty, liposuction, male breast reduction, and hair transplantation in that descending order. If you look at the numbers for the top five plastic surgery procedures performed, women make up an overwhelming 92% of the procedures while men only 8%.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana