Noninvasive Procedures Increased in 2012

Requests for noninvasive cosmetic procedures grew across the board in 2012, while surgical procedures held steady or showed modest growth, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeon’s annual cosmetic plastic surgery statistics. The statistics are compiled based on ASPS member responses. They report that in 2012, more than 14.5 million cosmetic procedures were performed. Botulinum toxin injections accounted for 6.1 million of those procedures, an 8% increase over 2011. Soft tissue fillers increased by 5% in the past year—from 1.9 million to 2 million procedures performed—with HA-based fillers and polymethyl-methacrylate microspheres (Artefill) showing growth and calcium hydroxylapatite and fat transfer dipping slightly. Laser hair removal and microdermabrasion treatments also increased in the past year by 4% and 8% respectively.
Breast augmentation remains the most popular cosmetic surgery procedure with 287,000 augmentations performed (down from 307,000 in 2011) followed by rhinoplasty and blepharoplasty, which saw an increase of 4% in 2012. Facelifts were the fifth most popular surgical procedure in 2012 with a 6% increase—from 119,000 to 126,000—since 2011.