Is lipo… again? Whereas liposuction by no means actually went away, it has as soon as once more taken the crown as the most well-liked cosmetic surgery carried out in the USA. And its important rise in reputation may very well be a telling sign of how physique inclusivity and acceptance is evolving.
What the information says
A research accomplished by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) discovered that liposuction was the most-performed surgical procedure of 2022, up a major 23% from 2019. The ASPS, which represents 92% of all board-certified plastic surgeons in the USA, studies that about 1.5 million beauty surgical procedures have been carried out in 2022 and about 325,000 of them have been liposuction.
Liposuction has lengthy ranked within the high 5 hottest procedures within the U.S., however earlier than 2021, it hadn’t held the highest spot since 2005. This yr it didn’t simply maintain on to that place, it dug its heels in deep.
A 23 % enhance could not sound like a ton, however that’s truly a giant leap. For comparability’s sake: Breast augmentation, the second hottest process, solely rose by 4 % from 2019 to 2022. (After breast augmentation, abdominoplasty, breast lifts, and eyelid surgical procedure rounded out the 2022 high 5.)
“I feel the lipo stats are primarily reflective of post-pandemic emergence,” says Dr. Gregory Greco, DO, FACS, a board-certified plastic surgeon in New Jersey who sits on the board of ASPS. “Individuals both obtained in superb form or, with out the motivation of gyms, had somewhat little bit of a blockade to their health and impulsively issues begin to snowball.”
Dr. Steven Williams, a board-certified plastic surgeon and president elect of ASPS, factors to the pandemic as an element within the huge rise in cosmetic surgery general, citing time away from the workplace with distant work, extra flexibility to get well, and extra monetary assets. “Should you look general, there’s a rise in procedures,” he explains, noting that abdominoplasty (tummy tuck) — 2022’s third hottest process — is up practically 40% from 2019. “Particularly with lipo, although, there just a few issues which are happening,” he says. “An increasing number of, it’s part of a number of mixed operations. Should you’re doing a tummy tuck, a face carry, brachioplasty [arm lift], a thigh carry, all of these contain liposuction more often than not.”