The rate of plastic surgery and cosmetic surgery continues to grow nationally. Nearly 11 million cosmetic plastic surgery procedures were performed in the United States in 2006, up 7 percent from 2005, according to statistics compiled by the plastic surgery society. In addition, more than 5.2 million reconstructive plastic surgery procedures were performed last year.
As a cosmetic surgeon, I found it interesting that surgical cosmetic procedures increased 2 percent, with more than 1.8 million procedures performed in 2006. The top five surgical procedures were breast augmentation (329,000), rhinoplasty (307,000), liposuction (303,000), eyelid surgery (233,000), and tummy tuck (146,000). For the first time, breast augmentation is the most popular surgical procedure. This might be partly because of the publicity surrounding silicone breast implants, which recently were approved by the FDA for general usage.
Certainly we are seeing similar trends here in Beverly Hills. We continue to do more Beverly Hills breast augmentation surgery, and we also are doing ever-more frequent Botox treatments. We also are seeing large increases in our tummy tuck procedures, which also do as part of our Rodeo Drive Mommy Makeover combination. We often do this procedure with a breast lift or implant and liposuction.
Reconstructive plastic surgery, which improves function and appearance to abnormal structures, decreased 3 percent in 2006. The top five reconstructive procedures were tumor removal (3.9 million), laceration repair (313,000), scar revision (165,000), hand surgery (156,000) and breast reduction (104,000). As a cosmetic surgeon, I am pleased to perform these sorts of reconstructive procedures for my patients.
But the biggest jump was in noninvasive procedures. Minimally-invasive cosmetic procedures jumped 8 percent to more than 9.1 million procedures in 2006. The top five minimally-invasive procedures included Botox® (4.1 million), chemical peel (1.1 million), laser hair removal (887,000), microdermabrasion (817,000), and hyaluronic acid fillers (778,000). Skin and soft tissue fillers (Restylane®, Hylaform® and Hylaform Plus®) debuted in the top five, bumping out sclerotherapy (treatment of spider veins) which had been among the top five minimally-invasive procedures for the previous three years.
