Chin, Breast Augmentation Surgeries Up Last Year

The American Society of Plastic Surgeons has issued a happy-face “Plastic Surgery Statistics Report” for 2011. Good news! More of us can afford nips and tucks than in 2010! The biggest winners among cosmetic surgical procedures in terms of year-to-year percentage increases were chin augmentation (up 71 percent), lip augmentation (up 49 percent), and, in a dead heat, pectoral implants and buttock implants (both up 43 percent). In terms of overall procedures performed, breast augmentation is still the, um, biggest winner, with 307,180 done in 2011, a four percent increase over 2010. Second and third places went to nose jobs (243,772) and liposuction (204,702).

When it comes to minimally invasive procedures, Botox injections were far and away in front of the pack, with 5,670,788 performed, followed by soft tissue fillers like Radiesse and collagen, with a total of 1,891,158 performed, then chemical peels (1,110,464).

In terms of long-view trends, that happy face is sagging a tad for plastic surgeons, whose services tend to be elective and thus not covered by insurance. Since 2000, the overall number of cosmetic surgical procedures is down 17 percent, with the biggest losers being hair transplantation (off 65 percent), forehead lifts (61 percent), and breast implant removals (45 percent). Biggest losers among minimally invasive fixes were those collagen fills (off 88 percent) and sclerotherapy for varicose veins (59 percent). Clearly the fashion leaders? The upper arm lift, up an astonishing 4,337 percent over 2010, and the lower body lift, up 3,579 percent. Might as well balance out the bottom and the top.