As with anything else, trends come and go in the world of plastic surgery. With an economy that doesn't seem to want to get jumpstarted, people are choosing to have different procedures than they might in a more robust time period. In the latter half of the first decade of the new millennium, there has been a sharp decline in the number of surgeries. Of course, with the industry making nearly 12 billion dollars in 2008, one could hardly call this evidence of a downturn. But as techniques and procedures change, so do the operations and procedures people are choosing to get.
One startling change has been a tremendous increase in the popularity of nonsurgical procedures. This can be mostly attributed to the advent of Botox, which has given millions of people a chance to get rid of fine lines and wrinkles with simple injections rather than an extensive procedure. Botox is more popular at this time than any surgical procedure, even ones like liposuction and breast augmentation, which have always enjoyed tremendous popularity.
Of course, it isn't simply the cost of plastic surgery that is making people think twice about what procedures they want to have done. In an uncertain economy, very few people feel so confident in their jobs they can schedule the time off a major piece of plastic surgery requires for recovery time. Of course, there are two sides to that coin as well. Older people in the workforce see young college graduates coming in the door every day, many of them willing to work for smaller salaries, even if they lack the experience. Surgical procedures can't actually make you any younger but we live in a society where appearance is everything.
Technology has also caused the more traditional forms of liposuction to take a hit, while laser lipo has become the next big thing. Not only is the procedure much less dangerous, it requires far less downtime. With traditional liposuction, a patient can expect to miss as much as two weeks of work time. With the new laser treatments, many patients can be back at work within just a couple of days.
Overall, the number for all forms of plastic surgery are way up from where they were fifteen years ago, and this overall trend is unlikely to change anytime soon. With newer procedures, less invasive techniques, and dropping prices, expect to see the field expand in the coming years as more and more people find they have the desire and funds to get the corrections they want.