Cosmetic Procedures Increase 457% in Past 10 Years

Cosmetic interventions, surgical and nonsurgical, increased 8% from 2006 to 2007, and 457% in 10 years, the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) said Monday.

Overall, last year there were 11.7 million cosmetic interventions--18% surgical, 82% non-surgical--generating some $13 billion, ASAPS said in a report.

Since 1997, when the group began gathering its data, cosmetic interventions grew by 457%. By category, surgical procedures increased 114% and nonsurgical ones 754%.

The most frequent nonsurgical cosmetic procedure last year was Botox injections, with 2.77 million performed, while liposuction headed the list of surgical procedures, with 456,828.

Including liposuction, the five most performed surgical procedures last year were breast augmentation, eyelid surgery, abdominoplasty and female breast reduction. In the non-surgical category, laser hair removal and laser skin resurfacing topped the list.

Women represented 91% of all cosmetic intervention patients in 2007, with 10.6 million procedures. And while men were a small minority, their number from 2006 to 2007 increased by 17%.

The most frequent cosmetic surgery for men last year was liposuction (57,980), while Botox injections headed the nonsurgical list (329,519).

For women, breast augmentation was the surgery most performed (399,400), and Botox injections the most nonsurgical procedure (2.45 million).

Female breast augmentation saw the biggest surge last year, while for men it was anti-wrinkle Radiesse injections--a dermal filler based on calcium-based microspheres suspended in a water-based gel.

Agence French-Presse, March 3, 2008

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