Top 5 Plastic Surgery Procedures in the United States

Perhaps not surprisingly, Breast Augmentation continues to top the list of the most popular plastic surgery procedures in the United States. According to the annual report of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), over 300,000 breast augmentations were performed in 2017.  But what of the other procedures topping the list? And what are the upward and downward trends? Find out all you need to know from the NuBody Blog.

Breast Augmentation Tops the List Again

In addition to those 300,000 breast augmentations, 2017 also saw 27,000 implant removals, 105,000 breast lifts and 44,000 breast reductions. That is a lot of breast surgeries in a year! And with the exception of implant removals, all these showed a growth trend from the previous year, with the biggest increase coming from breast reductions (11%).

If you are contemplating breast surgery, you are certainly not alone.

We are not surprised that year over year, breast augmentations continue to rise in popularity. One reason may be that there are more implant options than ever before. New materials and shapes give you additional options for natural looking results that go beyond just increasing the size of your breasts. Gummy bear implants have become the darling of breast surgeries for their great feel as well as a closer fit with today’s more refined tastes of what a beautiful breast should look like. Natural-looking results are in these days – out with the big boobs, in with the understated but sexy cleavage that has them guessing whether you’ve had anything done at all.

Surgeon techniques have also become more advanced so that implants are no longer the only option for women who want to enhance their breasts. Breast lift surgery has had a solid growth trend since the year 2000, partly due to better placement and type of incision. Fat transfer breast augmentations – also called natural fat transfer for breast – continue to be popular alternatives for women who do not want to get implants. They not only give you more volume up above, but also take it away from below, such as your stomach or thighs or any other area you are unhappy with. The bonus: You get to use your own fat as a natural filler.

But Who Knew About Calf Augmentation?

Here is a list of last year’s other plastic surgery procedures in the top five:

1. Breast Augmentations 300,378
2. Liposuction 246,354
3. Nose Job (Rhinoplasty) 218,924
4. Eyelid Surgery (Blepharoplasty) 209,571
5. Tummy Tuck (Abdominoplasty) 129,753

Solidly in the #2 spot, Liposuction continues to be a favorite among plastic surgery procedures as well. Just as with breast augmentation, this can be attributed to improved techniques and gentler methods. The procedure is so easy on your body that the recovery time is just 1-2 days, they allow your surgeon to precisely target even the smallest but persistent fat pockets, and they deliver the natural looking results today’s patients demand.

And then there are the more surprising results of the ASPS report. Did you know, for instance, that calf augmentation was a thing? For 658 patients it was, a whopping increase of 57% over the 2016 number! Similarly, cheek implants have seen an increase of 8% to 14,277 procedures.

At NuBody Concepts, the popularity of procedures such as calf augmentation doesn’t surprise us. Having actively been a part of the evolution of liposuction over the last 20 years, we know first-hand how it can help contour even parts of your body that might have previously been ignored. Modern liposuction techniques are not just great at removing fat, they are effective tools to put that fat elsewhere. The technology we use to remove the fat from, say, your belly, lets us preserve the fat cells in an unblemished state for later re-injection to wherever you want to enhance your curves.

Hair is Where the Growth Is (No Pun Intended)

The biggest increase over the previous year (behind the aforementioned calf augmentation) belonged to hair transplantation (19,979 procedures in 2017). Just as liposuction and breast surgery, hair transplants have benefitted from innovative surgery techniques that allow for more natural results. The NeoGraft hair restoration technology is one such example. Undoubtedly, the ability to grow new hair has the power to transform a man’s life just as much as a breast enhancement does for a woman.

Perhaps the growth in hair transplant surgeries also shows a larger trend. Men increasingly turn to plastic surgery to enhance their looks. Male breast reductions (which were not included in the above number for breast reductions) came in at 27,000 in 2017, a respectable 30% increase from 2000. The connection between looking good and feeling great seems to be true as much for men as it is for women.

The biggest losers, according to the ASPS report, were lip reductions (-70%) and butt implants (-56%).

The Long-Term Trends in Cosmetic Procedures

It’s important to note that the above list only pertains to plastic surgery procedures. At nearly 16 million in 2017, non-invasive cosmetic treatments eclipse surgical procedures by a factor of nine. Not only that, they have grown by almost 200% since the year 2000, whereas surgical procedures have decreased by 6% during the same time period. However, over the last year, both fields have seen a modest growth of just a few percentage points.

While some of this growth was fueled by relative newcomers in cosmetic treatments, like CoolSculpting, Botox is by far the biggest contributor to the growth in non-invasive procedures, accounting for nearly half of them. Fillers, laser hair removal, peels and microdermabrasion round out the top five.

1. Botox 7.2 million
2. Soft Tissue Fillers 2.7 million
3. Chemical Peel 1.4 million
4. Laser Hair Removal 1.0 million
5. Microdermabrasion 0.7 million

Botox has become so mainstream in our lives that it is hard to imagine a time before it, but it’s only been around for about 15 years. To put this into context, almost all ten seasons of Friends happened before Botox was FDA-approved and began its meteoric rise. In recent years, some of its growth has been driven by ever larger numbers of men turning to the procedure – sometimes referred to as the Brotox trend.

If you are someone who follows current trends, and if you’re a woman, then it might be time to consider breast implants. If you’re a man, a hair transplant might be in order. And for either one of you, a little bit of Botox to top it off. Contact NuBody Concepts to evaluate your options!

References

1. 2017 Cosmetic Plastic Surgery Statistics by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons