The Latest Plastic Surgery Stats, reported by Dr. Robert Brueck MD

Dr. Robert J. Brueck MD FACS, Fort Myers Board Certified Plastic Surgeon, regularly reports on news and events of interest in the fields of health and cosmetic surgery.

Cosmetic surgery statistics for 2009 were recently released.

I have to say there were no major surprises. The total number of cosmetic procedures surgical and non-surgical was down 3% compared to 2008. The number of surgical procedures went down a whopping 17%.

This is what one would expect with the current state of the economy. Nonsurgical procedures such as Dysport, lasers, etc, 8,491,861 in 2008 was up slightly to 8,522,139 in 2009.

What heads the list? The top five surgical procedures are:

1. Breast augmentation

2. Liposuction

3. Eyelid surgery

4. Rhinoplasty

5. Tummy tuck

What were the top 5 non-surgical procedures?

1. Botox-Dysport

2. Fillers

3. Laser hair removal

4. Micro-dermabrasion

5. Chemical peels

The total number of cosmetic procedures by men were just over 9% of the total, so men need to catch up with the ladies a little bit in this group.

The age group having the highest number of procedures was 35 to 50. This cohort was 44% of the total.

So what was America’s total bill for all of this?

It was a paltry $10.5 billion. I say that with tongue in cheek only because our society has moved to thinking "a billion dollars here, a hundred billion dollars there" and pretty soon, we're talking real money. Many people don’t seem to blink an eyelash.

It is a tremendous amount of money. With all of this runaway spending in our government, why not offer everyone free cosmetic surgery?

It truly is a misnomer. We seem to think free healthcare, free food, free cosmetic surgery, free unemployment and the truth and reality is that it is NOT free; someone is paying for it.

One of my biggest complaints or irritations is the tremendous waste fraud and greed that has permeated into our culture and particularly our federal government.

It seems that we have adopted an attitude of "it’s all about me". I think we can all pray that better days lie ahead.