The contouring procedure, which uses suction to remove excess fat, accounted for 14.8% of cosmetic surgeries performed worldwide, while the equivalent figure for breast augmentation has fallen to just over 13% .
The changing trends are part of a global push in aesthetic medicine, which saw more than 30 million surgical and non-surgical procedures performed in 2021, a 19.3% jump from the previous year. . The data, released as part of ISAPS’s latest annual survey on Tuesday, suggests the cosmetic surgery industry hasn’t just recovered from two straight years of Covid-related decline – it’s grown well over- beyond pre-pandemic levels.
The total number of surgical procedures increased by more than 33% between 2017 and 2021, while non-surgical procedures (the most popular of which is botulinum toxin, or Botox) increased by more than 54% during the same period.
Campiglio, who works as a plastic surgeon in Italy, also pointed to a sharp increase in the number of patients seeking to have their breast implants removed, a procedure that has increased by almost 50% worldwide over the past four years.
“The lower increase in breast augmentation and the related increase in implant removals…reflects our experience following the publication of reports on BIA-ALCL in the prior year,” he said in a statement. hurry.
The US Food and Drug Administration said it first identified a possible link between breast implants and anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) in 2011. Credit: megaflopp/Adobe Stock
Meanwhile, Campiglio announced the growth of liposuction as part of a broader growth in interest in body contouring. More than 1.9 million liposuction procedures were recorded worldwide in 2021, a jump of nearly 25% from the previous year.
Among the most popular procedures are also rhinoplasty and abdominoplasty (or rhinoplasty and abdominoplasty). Eyelid surgery was the third most common procedure globally in 2021 and the most popular among men.
Elsewhere in the report, thigh lifts were found to be the fastest growing form of cosmetic surgery in the world, up more than 53% from 2020. The report also highlighted a “notable increase – by more than 30% – from the use of hyaluronic acid, which is commonly injected as a facial filler.
As in previous years, the United States has the highest number of cosmetic surgeons in the world. The country’s nearly 7,000 surgeons in the field accounted for almost a quarter of procedures performed globally, with Brazil and Japan finishing a distant second and third at 8.9% and 5.7%, respectively.
Turkey, Colombia, Mexico and Thailand were identified as the most popular destinations for patients traveling abroad for cosmetic treatments.
“We always encourage patients to do their homework, to make sure their plastic surgeon is board certified, well trained in the procedures the patient wants,” she said at the time.
