January 07, 2015
What do you get when you add the rise of the selfie and social media with a recovering economy? An increase in plastic surgery procedures, experts say.
Below are a few plastic surgery procedures expected to see an increase in 2015.
Butt implants will continue to gain popularity.
The fact that you're reading this article on the Internet proves that Kim Kardashian's bare butt didn’t break it (NSFW).
But the celebrity's undeniably bodacious booty shots (NSFW), which appeared on the cover of Paper Magazine's Winter 2014 issue and immediately became a viral sensation, may have helped to make butts big - well bigger.
According to a report by NBC News, nearly 10,000 Americans got fake junk added to their trunks in 2013, up 16 percent from 2012, a trend that's expected to keep growing.
“It’s just amazing, the numbers,” Dr. Douglas Taranow, a board-certified plastic surgeon on New York City’s Upper East Side told NBC News. “It’s with J. Lo, and Beyonce, and everyone else having a great derriere. … I think people see that and they want to mirror image it.”
At CNN, Dr. Anthony Youn, a plastic surgeon based in Detroit, echoed the belief: that belfies are to blame.
I believe the answer lies with the media, both broadcast and social. Plastic surgeons are seeing more and more women who want the backsides of various stars.
Such a procedure costs an average of $4,129 nationwide just for the surgeon's fees, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, which doesn't include the cost of anesthesia, operating room use or related expenses.
The rise of selfies and social media also is leading to increased facial plastic surgery.
According to a report by the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Americans' obsession with social media and oversharing is leading to an increase in facial plastic surgery procedures - especially within the areas above the shoulders.
Dr. Sam Rizk, a plastic surgeon with a practice in Manhattan, told Patricia Reaney at Reuters that he's seen a 25 percent increase in patients over the past year-and-a-half to two years, which he attributes to the rise of the selfie.
"They come in with their iPhones and show me pictures," Rizk said. "I refuse a significant proportion of patients with selfies because I believe it is not a real image of what they actually look like in person."But, he knows, the patients he turns away will just go to someone else.
The number of minimally invasive techniques and procedures is also expected to see an increase.
Minimally invasive procedures, such as Botox and laser tattoo removal, are expected to continue to climb this year.
Botox injections were the top minimally invasive procedure last year nationwide, with more than 6.3 million procedures performed – an increase of 3 percent from the previous year, according to a report by Barrett Brunsman of the Cincinnati Business Courier:
The total number of cosmetic procedures performed last year topped 15.1 million, up 3 percent over 2012, according to the latest statistics available from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, according to Brunsman.
Women accounted for 91 percent of all cosmetic procedures, or 13.1 million of the total. Of those, 11.8 million were minimally invasive and 1.4 million were surgical.
