12 Year Study Reveals Increase in the Demand for Cosmetic Surgeries

A 12-year study presented at ‘Plastic Surgery The Meeting’, the annual scientific meeting of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) revealed that the demand for cosmetic surgery procedures almost doubled in the past 12 years. The growth of interest in these procedures from 2000 to 2012 despite the economic downturn of the early 2000s show how important these aesthetic procedures are to people desiring a better body and facial contour.

The introduction of advanced minimally invasive procedures (MIPs) including injectables, and the safety assured might have contributed a lot to this growing interest. Many of these procedures are simple and of less time duration. Moreover, with benefits such as short downtime and recovery period, they are more attractive to people who don’t prefer a massive surgery. The minimally invasive procedures have registered a steady growth every year while a decline was noted in major cosmetic procedures such as face lifts. A decline of 27 percent was noted for the massive procedures between 2006 and 2009.

The latest ASPS statistics reports however show that surgical procedures such as facelift have again increased in popularity. Around 9% increase is seen in the demand for facelift in 2010 compared to 2009, 5% increase in 2011 from 2010, 6% increase in 2012 from 2011, and the 2013 report shows 7% increase from 2012. This shows almost a steady growth in the interest in the procedure in recent years. As expected, women were the majority undergoing these procedures and 2013 ASPS report shows a 5% increase in the figures from 2012, and a 2% increase from 2000.

The researchers noted that patients might have opted for direct payments rather than relying on insurance companies to meet the cost of MIPs, which may be the reason for increase in MIPs. An analysis of U.S. financial statistics shows that the rates of minimally invasive procedures in individual states can be affected by several factors including the media, healthcare, real estate, food, unemployment and the overall Gross Domestic Product (GDP) that measures the financial value of all finished goods and services produced within the U.S during specific time periods, typically annually.

In addition to the effective surgical procedures assuring lasting results, introduction of minimally invasive and non-invasive procedures offering temporary possibilities of improved aesthetic outcome is sure to improve the interest for cosmetic procedures in the coming years as well.