Editor’s note: This story is linked to another titled “Changes in cost, stigma help grow plastic surgery market”
The debate in American popular culture about plastic surgery has long focused on upper body procedures, but the fastest growing procedures are focused on the lower body, including both surgical and minimally invasive procedures.
In 2016, 1,780,987 cosmetic surgeries were performed in the US, a 4% increase over the previous year, according to American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). Breast augmentation, eyelid surgery, facelift, liposuction and nose reshaping even most of the cosmetic surgeries.
But none of them were among the five fastest-growing cosmetic surgeries during 2016: lip reduction, up 283 percent; lipoplasty, up 39 percent; lower body lift, up to 34 percent. Buttock augmentation with fat grafting, 26 percent increase. and breast implants, up 25%.
Buttock procedures were the fastest growing procedures from 2013 to 2014 and continued to be among the most popular. More than 25,000 buttock lift and implant procedures were performed in 2016.
The specific techniques used in these surgeries are also believed to influence trends in the industry. Fat grafting procedures, for example, have increased in recent years.
“Plastic surgeons harvest a patient’s unwanted fat from their abdomen using liposuction and then inject it to lift and rejuvenate other areas, such as the face, buttocks and even the breasts,” said the president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons Dr. Debra Johnson in a Press release.
The results of the procedures are supposed to last longer because it is the patient’s own fat.
Similarly, minimally invasive procedures have seen body-changing trends during 2016, with a greater focus on fat reduction through injectable lipolysis, up 18 percent. fat reduction, up to 13 percent; and non-invasive fat reduction, up to 5 percent.
Almost all five of the most common minimally invasive cosmetic procedures have increased in the last year, unlike surgical cosmetic procedures.
Botulinum toxin type A (Botox®, Dysport®, Xeomin®) procedures increased 4 percent, chemical peel procedures increased 4 percent, laser hair removal procedures decreased 1 percent, microdermabrasion procedures decreased 3 percent percent and soft tissue fillers increased 2 percent.
Dr. P. Daniel Ward is a facial plastic surgeon and owner of Form Medical Spa. He is also an associate professor of facial plastic surgery at the University of Utah.
The use of fillers — specifically focused on plumping the lips and smoothing bumps on the nose — was a major change Ward saw in his practice.
Using Botox to prevent wrinkles rather than treat them is becoming more popular, he said. These changes bring a younger patient population to Ward’s office.
Interventional treatments are also changing and making a comeback. Facelifts were not among the five most popular cosmetic surgeries in 2015, according to A SPAbut they were the fourth most popular procedures performed in 2016.
Ward said people who were turning away from more invasive procedures and getting laser facelift treatments are coming back because the recovery time is shorter. Invasive procedures are becoming more popular again because laser recovery is proving to last longer, according to Ward.
“We’re going back to the roots with more advanced techniques,” Ward said.
