The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) released their 16th annual multi-specialty procedural statistics. In 2012, over 10 million cosmetic surgical and non-surgical procedures were performed by the board-certified doctors in the US.

The most frequently performed surgical procedure was breast augmentation. Cosmetic surgical procedures increased more than 3% in the past year, with almost 1.7 million procedures in 2012. Surgery accounted for 17% of all procedures performed representing 61% of total patient expenditures. The top five surgical procedures were: breast augmentation, liposuction, abdominoplasty, eyelid surgery, and rhinoplasty.

‘In 2012, breast augmentation replaced liposuction as the most popular surgical procedure. This might have something to do with the increased popularity in silicone gel implants since their return to the market in 2006,’ said Leo R. McCafferty, MD, President of ASAPS.

‘According to the Society’s statistics in 2006, 383 886 breast augmentation procedures were performed and of those 81% were saline implants and 19% were silicone. In 2012, 330631 breast augmentation procedures were performed and of those only 28% were saline implants and 72% were silicone.’

Women had more than 9.1 million cosmetic procedures, 90% of the total. The number of cosmetic procedures for women increased over 252% from 1997. Men had almost 1 million cosmetic procedures, 10% of the total. The number of cosmetic procedures for men increased over 106% from 1997.

Americans spent almost $11 billion on cosmetic procedures in 2012. Of that total $6.7 billion was spent on surgical procedures; $2 billion was spent on injectable procedures; $1.8 billion was spent on skin rejuvenation procedures; and over $483 million was spent on other non-surgical procedures, including laser hair removal and laser treatment of leg veins.

The most popular non-surgical procedure was injections of botulinum toxin type A. Cosmetic minimally-invasive procedures increased over 10% in the past year, with almost 8.5 million procedures in 2012. Non-surgical procedures accounted for 83% of the total number of procedures performed representing 39% of total expenditures.

The Aesthetic Society, which has collected plastic surgery procedural statistics since 1997, says the overall number of cosmetic procedures has increased 250% since the tracking of the statistics first began.