10/18/06

According to  Robert Grant, president of Allergan Medical,  who spoke at the American Society of Plastic Surgeons meeting last week, of 27 million potential patients who might consider injectables, only 1 million are currently using injectables.

Mentor Corporation CEO Josh Levine said that more than $12 billion is spent each year on aesthetic procedures and while there has been robust growth in the surgical procedures segment of the market, the nonsurgical procedures have grown even faster.

Levine noted the typical patient for breast implants today is a college-educated mother of two, who wants to reclaim her shape. Should silicone implants once again be approved for use by all women in the United States, they will eventually become the “product of choice,” says Levine.

Grant cautioned that while the aesthetic sector is poised for enormous growth, physicians have to make sure that they lay the foundation and build the house the right way.
“We don’t want to make claims about products that cannot be achieved,” says Grant.

[www.plasticsurgery.org
, October 10, 2006]