More than 11 million cosmetic surgical and nonsurgical procedures were performed in the US last year—1 million more than were performed in 2012. The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) released its 17th annual report on US plastic surgery statistics yesterday, and their data shows that there has been a 12 percent increase in cosmetic procedures in the past year. The total expenditure on these procedures amounted to more than 12 billion dollars; that’s the first time that amount of money has been spent on cosmetic procedures in one year since the economy took a dive in 2008.

Breast augmentation, usually the most popular cosmetic surgical procedure in the US, took second place to liposuction’s first place in 2013. Liposuction actually went up by 16.3 percent, whereas breast augmentation went down by 5.2 percent—an interesting change in trends! Following those top two cosmetic surgeries are eyelid surgery (up 5.4 percent for a total of 161,389 procedures), tummy tucks (up 2.3 percent for a total of 160,077), and nose surgery (up 2.9 percent for a total of 147,966 procedures).

While buttock augmentation and labiaplasty did not make the top five, they did show more increased popularity than any other procedures on the list: buttock augmentation increased by 58 percent increase, and labiaplasty increased by 44 percent in comparison to 2012.

While the million-procedure increase last year is impressive, overall, says ASAPS president Jack Fisher, “The numbers do not come as a surprise.” He says that “technological advances, less-invasive procedures, greater accessibility”—combined with “the rebounding economy”—is the reason that more and more people are finding themselves drawn to plastic surgery these days. With numbers like these, I’d say he’s right.

Since 2013 was such a banner year for plastic surgery, it stands to reason that 2014 will be a huge year for the field as well. What do you think? I’d love to know!

All my best,

Dr. Rajagopal