The International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS) released the results of its annual Global Survey on Aesthetic/Cosmetic Procedures, showing a 7.4% increase in cosmetic procedures completed in 2019.
Survey Methodology
A survey questionnaire was sent to 25,000 plastic surgeons in the ISAPS database. It focused on the number of surgical and nonsurgical procedures performed in 2019, and some ancillary questions related to medical tourism.
The results were compiled, tabulated and analyzed by Industry Insights, an independent research firm based in Columbus, OH.
Survey highlights include:
- Both surgical and nonsurgical procedures increased in 2019 (7.1% and 7.6% respectively) compared to an increase only in nonsurgical procedures in 2018.
- Despite a 3.6% decrease in the numbers of procedures in the last year, breast augmentation remains the most common cosmetic surgical procedure, making up 15.8% of all procedures.
- The top five most popular surgical procedures are breast augmentation, liposuction, eyelid surgery, abdominoplasty and rhinoplasty.
- The top five nonsurgical procedures remained the same: botulinum toxin, hyaluronic acid, hair removal, nonsurgical fat reduction and photo rejuvenation.
- Eyelid surgery has increased in popularity among men.
- Buttock surgery showed the highest growth for all surgical procedures. Buttock augmentation increased by 38.4% in 2019 and by 65.9% since 2015, and buttock lifts by 25.5% in 2019 and by 77.6% since 2015.
- The use of nonsurgical injectables is up by 8.6%. While botulinum toxin remains the most requested injectable treatment, the highest percentage increase was for calcium hydroxyapatite, up 64.9% in 2019. The use of hyaluronic acid fillers also continues to rise, up 15.7% since 2018.
- The most popular nonsurgical procedures for both genders are botulinum toxin, hyaluronic acid fillers and hair removal.
- Most surgical procedure patients were women aged 35-50.
Country Statistics
- The U.S. saw an 8.7% decrease in surgical procedures, but again performed the most procedures worldwide (15.9% of total), as well as 19.3% of all nonsurgical procedures and 77.8% of injectables. Brazil performed the most surgical procedures (13.1% of total) and nonsurgical procedures there rose by 28%.
- The top 10 countries for medical cosmetic procedures in 2019 were U.S., Brazil, Japan, Mexico, Italy, Germany, Turkey, France, India and Russia.
- The U.S. and Brazil are estimated to have the most plastic surgeons, with more than 25% of the world total. Asian countries follow with China in third place, Japan in fourth and South Korea in fifth.
- Surgical procedures continue to be performed primarily in hospitals (47.9% worldwide), apart from the USA where 62.7% of procedures are performed in an office facility.
- The countries seeing the highest proportion of foreign patients remain similar to last year: Thailand (33.2%), Mexico (22.5%) and Turkey (19.2%).
