Breast augmentations most common form of plastic surgery nationwide

Breast augmentations are the most common form of plastic surgery nationwide, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Loyola University Health System plastic surgeons are seeing similar trends in their practice. The number of women who are getting breast implants also is up from last year. In 2011, 307,180 women nationwide underwent a breast augmentation procedure while 296, 203 women had the same surgery in 2010.

"I have certainly seen an increase in elective cosmetic procedures in my practice," said Victor Cimino, MD, a board-certified plastic surgeon at LUHS. "This is a sign the economy may be improving and people may have more disposable income to spend on cosmetic enhancements."

Other cosmetic surgery procedures that topped the list included: nose reshaping (243,772); liposuction (204,702); eyelid surgery (196,286); and face lifts (119,026). The top five minimally invasive procedures were: Botulinum Toxin A (5,670,788); soft-tissue fillers (1,891,158); chemical peels (1,110,464); laser-hair removal (1,078,612); and microdermabrasion (900,439). The least popular procedures nationwide were pectoral implants (317), calf augmentation (405) and buttock implants (1,149).

"The top surgical procedures that we do at Loyola mirror the national statistics," Dr. Cimino said. "However, we opt to use various peels and lasers to rejuvenate the skin over other minimally invasive procedures such as microdermabrasion."