Vanity surgeries on the rise in the US
A new report from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) lists butt implants and lifts as the fastest growing types of plastic surgeries in the country, according to Fox News.
Breast augmentation tops the list of total cosmetic surgeries, followed by liposuction, nose reshaping, eyelid surgery and tummy tucks. The report also contained the top five minimally invasive procedures, which were Botox injections, soft tissue fillers, chemical peels, laser hair removal, and microderm abrasion.
Butt lifts, not in the top five overall, increased the most among plastic surgery operations, by a whopping 252 percent over the period from 2000 to 2015. Dr. David H. Song, ASPS president, said in a press release, “While more traditional facial procedures and breast augmentations are still among the most popular, we’re seeing much more diversity in the areas of the body patients are choosing to address. Patients have more options than ever, and working closely with their surgeon, they’re able to focus on specific target areas of the body to achieve the look they desire.”
The number of men undergoing procedures is on the rise as well. In 2015, 27,456 breast reduction surgeries were performed on men, 40 percent of the total number of procedures. That figure represents a 35 percent increase from the year 2000. Dr. Song noted younger men facing genetic challenges are quite often the recipients of these type surgeries.
Breast cancer patients are having more breast reconstruction surgeries also, with over 106,000 procedures in the last year. That could be partially driven by the fact that health insurance companies are now often required to cover the cost of the procedure as standard treatment.
Dr. Song called that figure “encouraging,” and said his organization hopes to get the word out to all women facing breast cancer, to make them aware of their options early after the diagnosis of the disease.
More and more people are looking to plastic surgery as a way to improve their physical and mental health, but the number of people going through the procedures for non-life saving medical reasons continues to rise, with some 15 million cosmetic procedures in the United States in 2015, an increase of two percent over the previous year.
