Aug. 10 – The International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS) recently released the first ever independent study on global cosmetic surgery trends covering the industry’s 25 most popular countries and regions.
The ISAPS Biennial Global Survey confirmed that the United States and Brazil are in fact the top markets for plastic surgery, but the report also showed a remarkable rise in cosmetic operations among citizens of emerging economies – particularly China and India.
“It is no surprise to me that the United States has the largest number of aesthetic procedures, and same with Brazil,” said ISAPS President Foad Nahai. “But countries like China and India with emerging economies are generating a lot of wealth and as that wealth is passed around, people are choosing to spend discretionary income on aesthetic procedures.”
The ISAPS report surveyed over 75 percent of the world’s estimated 30,817 certified plastic surgeons and classified over 17 million surgical and nonsurgical procedures conducted during 2009. Of the 8,536,379 surgical operations undergone last year, the world’s top five were liposuction (18.8 percent), breast augmentation (17 percent), blepharoplasty (13.5 percent), rhinoplasty (9.4 percent), and abdominoplasty (7.3 percent). Of the 8,601,401 nonsurgical operations undergone last year, the world’s five most popular were botulinum injections (32.7 percent), hyaluronic acid injection (20.1 percent), laser hair removal (13.1 percent), autologuos fat injections (5.9 percent), and IPL laser treatment (4.4 percent). The types of procedures, though, vary greatly depending on the country and region.
“It is not always liposuction and breast augmentation that are number one,” according to Nahai. In Asian countries like China, South Korea, and Thailand, for example, silicone implants for nose reshaping and eyelid surgery are extremely popular. Also, injections are not as popular in other countries as they are in the United States, he says.
Below are the most common surgical and nonsurgical operations in China and India:
