| From reality television to spruced up | | | | From the year 1997 to the year 2004, there |
| celebrities, there is little doubt plastic | | | | was a 465 percent increase in the total |
| surgery is popular these days. Words are | | | | number of cosmetic procedures performed in |
| cheap, however, so here are the numbers on | | | | the United States, and a 118 percent increase |
| plastic surgery. | | | | in the number of surgical cosmetic |
| | | | procedures. 90 percent of the total 11.9 |
| The Hard Numbers on Plastic Surgery | | | | million cosmetic procedures performed in 2004 |
| | | | took place on female patients, which amounted |
| If you watch television, surf the Web or | | | | to 10.7 million procedures. |
| listen to any radio station, you can | | | | |
| definitely see that plastic surgery is | | | | The numbers on plastic surgery for the year |
| extremely popular. There are reality shows | | | | 2004 also show the top five surgical |
| devoted to extreme plastic surgery makeovers | | | | procedures that took place during that year. |
| and the tales of plastic surgery gone wrong, | | | | They were: liposuction, breast augmentation, |
| and many patients have developed websites to | | | | eyelid surgery, rhinoplasty, and facelift. |
| tell their own plastic surgery stories. But | | | | The top five non-surgical cosmetic procedures |
| just how common is having these sorts of | | | | were as follows: Botox injections, laser hair |
| cosmetic procedures? Here are some numbers on | | | | removal, chemical peel, microdermabrasion, |
| plastic surgery that really show how many | | | | and hyaluronic acid (Restylane) injections. |
| people are going under the knife. | | | | Most of these procedures took place on people |
| | | | aged 35-50 - 45 percent of the total amount |
| The 2004 numbers on plastic surgery show that | | | | of people who had cosmetic procedures. |
| there were 11.9 million surgical and | | | | |
| non-invasive cosmetic procedures performed | | | | The amount of people getting cosmetic |
| that year (statistics provided by the | | | | procedures, both surgical and non-invasive, |
| American Society for Aesthetic Plastic | | | | has been steadily increasing every year. With |
| Surgery). This represents a 44 percent | | | | the numbers clearly showing that many people |
| increase over the amount of people that had | | | | prefer non-surgical procedures over those |
| similar procedures in the year 2003. Of the | | | | that require surgery, medical science is sure |
| 11.9 million procedures performed, 18 percent | | | | to be developing more and more non-invasive |
| were surgical (while the remaining were | | | | solutions to cosmetic issues. |
| procedures such as injections or | | | | |
| dermabrasion). | | | | Ricardo de Silva is with - a directory of |
| | | | plastic surgeons. |