WASHINGTON — Americans are done with face-lifts, but not with plastic surgery.
The American Society of Plastic Surgeons is out with its annual report on trends in cosmetic procedures.
While the overall number of procedures continues to rise, there has been a big change in the options requested by patients.
The old-fashioned face-lift, which used to be synonymous with plastic surgery, no longer appears on the list of the five most requested procedures.
Now, other kinds of lifts are surging.
The ASPS says breast lifts increased by 89 percent between 2000 and 2015, while buttock lifts rose 252 percent over the same period.
“We are definitely seeing more lifts on other parts of the body,” says Dr. Joseph Michaels, a plastic surgeon in Bethesda, Md.
Michaels cites a certain celebrity effect, with public figures like Kim Kardashian and Nicki Minaj driving interest in buttock lifts and augmentation.
The ASPS calls 2015 a “year of the rear”; on average, there’s a buttock augmentation procedure performed every 30 minutes of every day.
Celebrities — including Kardashian’s half-sister, Kylie Jenner — have also increased interest, especially among young women, in a variety of other surgical and noninvasive procedures.
“Kylie Jenner made news for herself with significant lip enlargement,” notes Michaels, adding Ariel Winters of the TV show “Modern Family” sparked inquiries about breast reduction with the revelation that she’d undergone the procedure.
Young women are also the driving force behind the popularity of breast augmentation, which remains the most popular plastic surgery procedure in the United States, although its growth pales in comparison to all those lifts — up just 1 percent between 2014 and 2015.
Another trend is that more men are undergoing breast reduction surgery, as well as chest contouring procedures.
Michaels says “men are not as apprehensive about going for some of these surgeries and we are seeing a significant increase — up 5 percent in the last year.”
