Breast augmentation edged liposuction for the title of most common cosmetic surgical procedure in 2008, while Botox topped the nonsurgical list — yet both were down 11 percent since 2007, according to recent statistics by the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.
More than 10.2 million cosmetic surgical and nonsurgical procedures were performed in the United States last year, a figure that is about 1 million, or 12%, less than the previous year.
The overall number of cosmetic procedures has increased 162 percent since the Aesthetic Society began collecting multi-specialty procedural statistics in 1997.
There were 355,671 breast augmentation procedures, 341,144 liposuctions, and 195,104 eyelid surgeries performed last year. In the nonsurgical category, there were 2.5 million Botox injections, 1.3 million laser hair removals, and 1.3 million hyaluronic acid procedures.
Women had almost 92 percent of cosmetic procedures, according to the data. Surgical procedures for women fell 15 percent, while nonsurgical procedures decreased by 11 percent. For men, surgical procedures decreased 18 percent, and nonsurgical procedures decreased 22 percent.
Racial and ethnic minorities accounted for 20 percent of all cosmetic procedures in 2008, with Hispanics leading the pack at 8 percent, followed by African-Americans at 6 percent and Asians at 4 percent.
More than 53% of cosmetic procedures performed last year took place in office-based facilities, with 26 percent in freestanding surgicenters and 19 percent in hospitals.
Americans spent just under $12 billion on cosmetic procedures.
A paper-based questionnaire was mailed to 16,000 board-certified physicians, consisting of 6,000 dermatologists, 6,000 otolaryngologists, and 4,000 plastic surgeons. A total of 894 completed and valid responses from 461 plastic surgeons, 277 dermatologists, and 156 otolaryngologists, were received in time for tabulation.
