Global Stats for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery Procedures

December 4, 2023

I often quote statistics from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) and the Aesthetic Society (formerly the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery or ASAPS). The main reasons I choose these references are because the majority of my patients and I are located in the United States. Moreover, on a global basis, more Cosmetic Plastic Surgeries are performed in the US than in any other country in the world. Per capita, South Korea has the edge, but in terms of sheer numbers, the US is number one.

International Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery Global Survey

This week I thought it would be fun to look at the global statistics on Cosmetic Surgery. As an active member of the International Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS), I am exposed to how plastic surgery is performed in other countries and the current trends in the procedure performed. Since we are still in 2023, the most recent ISAPS Global Survey is from 2022.

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At the ISAPS Olympiad Athens World Congress 2023 in September, the Global Survey results were presented. In 2022 there was an 11.2% increase in procedures performed by plastic surgeons. More than 14.9 million surgical and 18.8 million non-surgical procedures were performed worldwide. This continues the trend of a 41.3% increase over the last four years. Both surgical and non-surgical procedures showed increases, despite the world-wide COVID pandemic.

The top five surgical procedures were Liposuction, Breast Augmentation, Eyelid Surgery (Blepharoplasty), Tummy Tuck (Abdominoplasty) and Breast Lift (Mastopexy), which replaces Rhinoplasty among the top five. The most popular non-surgical procedures are Botulinum Toxin, Hyaluronic Acid Fillers, Hair Removal, Chemical Peel and Non-surgical Fat Reduction. Chemical peel enters the top five replacing Non-surgical Skin Tightening.

What Are the World-Wide Plastic Surgery Trends?

Here are some highlights for the tending Cosmetic Surgery Procedures:

• Liposuction was the most common surgical procedure in 2022 as in 2021, with more than 2.3 million procedures and a 21.1% increase.
• Breast Augmentation remains the most common surgical procedure for women, with 2.2 million procedures and a significant increase of 29% compared to 2021.
• Breast Procedures show notable growth from the previous year, with more than 4.4 million procedures on breast and a 25% increase.
• Buttock Augmentation shows the biggest increase in surgical procedures with 820,762 performed and a 56.8% increase.
• Body and Extremities Procedures increased by 25.3%.
• Facial Plastic Surgery Procedures remain the most popular ones, although with only a slight increase of 4.3% due to a slight decrease in the most common procedures: eyelid surgery, rhinoplasty and lip enhancement/perioral procedure.
• Eyelid Surgery (Blepharoplasty) is replaced by Liposuction as the most popular surgical procedure among men.

Aesthetic Highlights by Age

Procedures performed change with the age of the patients. Here are some of the more interesting facts:

• Most Breast Augmentations (54.6% of the total) and Rhinoplasties (66.7%) took place in 18–34-year-olds
• Botulinum Toxin, Injectable Fillers and Liposuction were most popular among those aged 35–50 (47.9% and 43.3% of the total).

Non-Surgical Procedure Highlights

Non-Surgical Aesthetic Procedures also trended higher in 2022. Here are some of the non-surgical trend highlights:

• Botulinum Toxin remains the most common non-surgical procedure for both men and women and across all age groups, with more than 9 million procedures performed by plastic surgeons worldwide and a 26.1% increase.
• Hyaluronic Acid Filler use decreased to 4.3 million.

Aesthetic Surgery Statistics by Country

Once again, the US performed the most procedures worldwide with over 7.4 million procedures, 22% of the procedures, followed by Brazil (8.9%) who is first in surgical procedures, and Japan (7.3%). The US and Brazil are estimated to have the most plastic surgeons, followed by Asian countries with Japan in third place, China in fourth, and the Republic of Korea (South Korea) in fifth.

Surgical procedures continue to be performed primarily in hospitals (47.4% worldwide) or office facilities (31.1%). On average, the countries seeing the highest proportion of foreign patients are Mexico, Colombia, Thailand and Turkey.