ASAPS: Americans Spent Big on Cosmetic Surgery in 2016

15 + B

That’s the amount of money that Americans doled out for cosmetic surgery in 2016, according to newly released statistics from the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS). That’s 1.5 B more then they spent in 2015, the group reports.

Surgical procedures were up 3.5 percent in 2016, with the biggest jumps seen in fat transfer to the breast (up 41 percent), labiaplasty (up 23 percent), buttock lift (up 21 percent), fat transfer to the face (up 17 percent) and breast explantation (up 13 percent).

Nonsurgical procedures were up 7 percent in 2016, with pronounced upticks in photorejuvenation (up 36 percent), hyaluronic acid  injections (up 16 percent), laser tattoo removal (up 13 percent), nonsurgical skin tightening (up 12 percent) and botulinum toxin shots (up 8 percent).

More seniors are getting nips and tucks too, ASAPS reports. Surgical procedures in men and women aged 65 and older increased by 58 percent in five years, and non-surgical ones jumped by 93 percept in the same timeframe.

“The numbers have been increasing in our industry year-over-year for a variety of reasons,” says Laguna Beach, Calif.-based plastic surgeon Daniel C. Mills, MD, President of ASAPS, in a news release. “A healthy economy with the lowest unemployment rate since 2008, a desire on the part of baby-boomers and their offspring to remain competitive in a youth-centric workforce, younger generations recognizing the value in preventative anti-aging care, and of course, procedural and technological innovations that provide patients with more personalized options in both the surgical and nonsurgical categories. In other words, there’s something for everyone,” he says.

About the ASAPS Cosmetic Surgery National Data Bank

ASAPS worked with an independent research firm to compile the 19-year national data for procedures performed 1997-2016. A paper-based questionnaire was mailed to 30,000 board-certified physicians. An online version of the questionnaire was also available.  A total of 795 physicians returned questionnaires, of which 92 were retired or otherwise inactive during 2016.