1.16.2006

Plastic Surgery Is Booming


From The Independent:
Bigger breasts were top of the shopping list for women seeking cosmetic surgery last year, which saw overall demand soar by one-third.

The growing acceptability of nip and tuck as a means to cosmetic enhancement has fuelled a booming industry and turned plastic surgeons into millionaires.

Breast augmentations, costing £4,000, were up by more than 50 per cent to 5,655 operations - the commonest procedure in the cosmetic surgery pantheon. Breast reductions were less than half as popular with 2,700 procedures, up less than 10 per cent on 2004.

Anti-ageing procedures - facelifts, eyelid surgery and brow lifts - also boomed with increases of between a third and a half.

Men are also going under the knife in search of aesthetic perfection with the number of cosmetic operations up 80 per cent from 1,348 to 2,440. But they still account for just 11 per cent of the total. The most popular operation on men is rhinoplasty - the nose job.

The figures are published today by the 170-member British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS), which represents the top surgeons in the business. They carried out 22,041 operations last year, up from 16,367 in 2004.

More than 100,000 cosmetic procedures are carried out in Britain each year, including treatments such as Botox for wrinkles and laser peels to rejuvenate skin, performed by doctors, who have had no specialist training in cosmetic surgery.


Somehow, even in a country with socialized medicine, they still have plenty of money for this sort of thing. It's always interesting to see what a society thinks is important. Hip replacement for an octogenarian or botox? Ultimately, our patients are voting with their dollars.


No comments: