11.9 Million Cosmetic Procedures In 2004

 American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery Reports 44 Percent Increase

 
The number of surgical and nonsurgical cosmetic procedures in the United States increased by 44 percent in 2004 to a total of nearly 11.9 million, according to statistics released today by the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS). The number of surgical procedures increased 17 percent and the number of nonsurgical procedures increased 51 percent from the previous year. The most frequently performed procedure was Botox injection and the most popular surgical procedure was liposuction. ASAPS, a national not-for-profit organization for education and research in cosmetic plastic surgery, annually conducts the nation's most authoritative survey of U.S. physicians performing cosmetic procedures.

"I believe at least some of this upward trend may be attributable to increased media coverage of plastic surgery in 2004," says ASAPS President Peter Fodor, MD, of Los Angeles . "People have had many more opportunities to see, first hand, what plastic surgery is like and what it can do for others. That can be a strong incentive for them to seek the same benefits by having cosmetic procedures themselves."

TRENDS AND DEMOGRAPHIC DATA

Top surgical and nonsurgical cosmetic procedures among ALL AMERICANS in 2004:

Surgical	# procedures	Nonsurgical	# procedures
Liposuction	478,251	Botox	2,837,346
Breast augmentation	334,052	Laser hair removal	1,411,899
Eyelid surgery	290,343	Chemical peel	1,110,401
Rhinoplasty	166,187	Microdermabrasion	1,098,316
Facelift	157,061	Hyaluronic acid (Hylaform, Restylane)	882,469

 

Top cosmetic procedures for WOMEN:

Surgical	# procedures	Nonsurgical	# procedures
Liposuction	416,614	Botox	2,525,430
Breast augmentation	334,052	Laser hair removal	1,215,052
Eyelid surgery	249,293	Microdermabrasion	999,095
Tummy Tuck	145,315	Chemical peel	977,277
Facelift	145,240	Hyaluronic acid (Hylaform, Restylane)	838,917

Women had 90 percent of cosmetic procedures. The number of procedures (surgical and nonsurgical) performed on women was nearly 10.7 million, an increase of 49 percent from the previous year. Surgical procedures increased 21 percent; nonsurgical procedures increased 57 percent.

Top cosmetic procedures for MEN:

Surgical	# procedures	Nonsurgical	# procedures
Liposuction	61,638	Botox injection	311,916
Eyelid surgery	41,050	Laser hair removal	196,847
Rhinoplasty	38,989	Chemical peel	133,124
Male breast reduction	19,636	Microdermabrasion	99,221
Hair transplantation	19,503	Laser skin resurfacing	69,427

Men had 10 percent of cosmetic procedures. The number of procedures (surgical and nonsurgical) performed on men was nearly 1.2 million, an increase of 8 percent from the previous year. Surgical procedures decreased 11 percent; nonsurgical procedures increased 15 percent.

Frequency of cosmetic procedures by AGE GROUP:

Age	% of total	# procedures	Top surgical procedure	Top nonsurgical procedure
35-50	45%	5.3 million	liposuction	Botox
51-64	25%	2.9 million	eyelid surgery	Botox
19-34	22%	2.6 million	liposuction	laser hair removal
65 and over	6%	749,607	eyelid surgery	Botox
18 and under	2%	240,682	rhinoplasty	laser hair removal

 

Racial and Ethnic Distribution

Racial and ethnic minorities accounted for 20 percent of all cosmetic procedures in 2004. Hispanics again led minority racial and ethnic groups in the number of procedures: Hispanics, 8.5 percent; African-Americans, 6.2 percent; Asians, 4.6 percent; and other non-Caucasians, 1.1 percent.

Gender

American men had nearly 1.2 million cosmetic surgical and nonsurgical procedures in 2004, 10 percent of the 11.9 million cosmetic procedures performed in the U.S. last year. According to ASAPS, the number of cosmetic procedures performed on men has increased 306 percent from 1997 to 2004. Compared to last year, the number of procedures for men increased by 8 percent. The overall increase was attributable to men's growing interest in nonsurgical cosmetic procedures . Nonsurgical procedures increased by 15 percent, while surgical procedures decreased by 11 percent.

Teenage Breast Augmentation

The number of breast enlargements for women age 18 and under decreased 63 percent in 2004 compared with the previous year, in 2003 there were 11,326 breast enlargement procedures on women 18 and under, representing 4 percent of the total number of breast augmentations; in 2004 there were 4,211 procedures, just over 1 percent of the total. ASAPS data also show that, in 2004, 60 percent of breast implant procedures performed on women 18 and under were for breast abnormalities including Poland's syndrome (congenital absent breast), severe breast asymmetry, congenital micromastia (severe underdevelopment of the breast) and tubular breast. In treating these conditions, implants may be inserted in one or both breasts. Forty percent, or an estimated 1,684 procedures, were for purely cosmetic augmentation of both breasts.

Location and Fees

Just over forty-six percent (46.4 percent) of cosmetic procedures in 2004 were performed in office-based facilities; 29.1 percent in freestanding surgicenters; and 24.4 percent in hospitals. Americans spent just under $12.5 billion on cosmetic procedures; $7.7 billion was for surgical procedures, and $4.7 billion was for nonsurgical procedures.

About the ASAPS Cosmetic Surgery National Data Bank

ASAPS, working with an independent research firm, compiled 8-year data for procedures performed 1997-2004 by multiple specialists, including but not limited to plastic surgeons certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery. More than 14,000 questionnaires were mailed nationwide, and results of the survey were used to project national data. The survey data has a standard error of +/- 3.63 percent at a 95 percent level of confidence.