18-24 year olds have highest approval rating for cosmetic surgery

In a new study commissioned by the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS), men and women ages 18-24 had the highest approval rating for cosmetic surgery.

"It makes sense that young people are the most approving of plastic surgery. Twenty years ago people thought only movie stars and rich women had plastic surgery," said Foad Nahai, MD, president of ASAPS. "Now people grow up knowing friends and family who openly talk about the plastic surgery procedures they have had or the ones they plan to have in the future."

According to the February 2008 report of 1000 teens and young adults ages 18 and above, 69% of respondents are in favor of cosmetic surgery, which is a 7% increase from 2006. Men and women ages 65 and older had the lowest approval rating of cosmetic surgery with 41%.

Other key findings of the study include:

• Among all Americans, 78% of women and 79% of men said they would not be embarrassed if others knew they had cosmetic surgery.
• 32% of women would consider cosmetic surgery as compared to 20% of men.
• Most Americans (74 percent) said their attitude toward cosmetic surgery had not changed in the last five years, though 16% said it was 'more favorable.'
• Men and women with children in their households were more likely to consider cosmetic surgery (29 percent), as compared to Americans without a child in their household (23 percent).
• Men and women are nearly equal in their approval of cosmetic surgery, with women showing a slightly lower (56 percent) approval rating than men (57 percent).

The study was commissioned by the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) and conducted by the independent research firm Synovate.

According to 2007 ASAPS Cosmetic Surgery Statistics, last year women had more than 10.6 million cosmetic procedures (91 percent of total), and men had more than 1 million procedures (9 percent of total). Overall, the number of surgical and nonsurgical cosmetic procedures increased 2.4 percent from 2006. To access the complete 2007 ASAPS Statistics go to surgery.org.