It has been a very trying couple of years for all of us whose job depends on luxury spending. Every year I look forward to the results of the ASPS annual statistics to understand how the national trend will affect my practice. The 2010 annual report revealed a positive trend and shows that plastic surgery and consumer spending is on the rise. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) statistics, 13.9 million surgical and nonsurgical cosmetic plastic surgery procedures were performed in the United States in 2010. This is an increase of 2% from 2009. This upward trend is very encouraging as there was a 1% decline in 2009 (retrieved from http://www.plasticsurgery.org on March 18, 2011).

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Cosmetic surgical procedures increased by 2%, with nearly 1.6 million procedures being performed in the United States in 2010. This again is a positive change as there was a decrease of 9% in cosmetic surgical procedures in 2009. The top-five 2010 surgical procedures are depicted in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Top-five surgical procedures 2010.

As nonsurgical techniques, products, and procedures have become more advanced, it has been felt that facial surgery has been on the decline. Interesting to note is that the ASPS statistics show that facelifts rose 9% in 2010, with nearly 113,000 procedures being performed. Facelifts have not shown an increase since 2007. Dr. Phil Haeck, president of ASPS, states, "People have waited a couple years or more to have procedures, until their finances were at least somewhat back in order. But, all indications are, more consumers are again willing to spend more to look better" (retrieved from http://www.onlinesurgery.com on March 17, 2011). Figure 2 shows the percentage of increase in other cosmetic surgical procedures.

Figure 2. Percentage of increase in 2010. Largest increase was in procedures following massive weight loss.

Nonsurgical or cosmetic minimally invasive procedures increased by 5% with approximately 11.6 million procedures being performed in 2010. In 2009, there were approximately 11 million nonsurgical procedures, which represented a 1% increase (retrieved from http://www.plasticsurgery.org on March 18, 2011).

Figure 3 shows the top-five minimally invasive procedures. An interesting statistic to note is that even with the approval of more advanced and longer-lasting dermal fillers, fat injections were up 14% from the previous year.

Figure 3. Top-five minimally invasive procedures.

After tabulating the results for reconstructive surgery, breast reconstruction was up 8% and is now in the top-five reconstructive procedures. Dr. Phil Haeck comments on this result. "It's been a major goal for ASPS to increase women's awareness of their breast reconstruction options, so much so that in 2009 the ASPS started a breast reconstruction public education campaign. It is great that we can report that this procedure is now among the top 5 reconstructive procedures'" (retrieved from http://www.onlinesurgery.com on March 17, 2011). See Figure 4 for the complete list of the top-five reconstructive procedures.

Figure 4. Top 5 reconstructive procedures in 2010.

Note. Collection of the procedural statistics by ASPS was through Tracking Operations and Outcomes for Plastic Surgeons and the ASPS annual survey sent to American Board of Medical Specialties certified physicians most likely to perform these procedures.

Let's hope that this upward trend continues as we emerge from our financial crisis.

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