No Recession for Cosmetic Surgery Patients

Plastic surgeons stay busy during the recession and economic crisis and the number of patients are still rising. Even with the markets going on a downhill slope, the plastic surgery industry continues to be stable.

New York (I-Newswire) July 20, 2012 - Despite the economic downturn, America has struggled and overcame unemployment and bankruptcy. As the recession affected just about all the industry, it missed plastic surgery. It seems that cosmetic surgeons are still busy and patients are not mindful of the economic crisis going on around them. Actually, the plastic surgery industry is down for only 2%.

The recession surely increased the competition among job hunters. As the unemployment grows, it seems that more and more women went it for enhancements so they can compete with the fresher and younger job applicants.

"Many people are going out on the job market and want touch-ups," confirmed Dr. Seth Thaller, professor and chief of plastic surgery at the University Of Miami Miller School Of Medicine in Florida. "I have a patient coming in next week who works. Her competition is younger, and she's getting plastic surgery to be more competitive in the market."

Statistics from the ASPS showed that among non-surgical procedures, Botox and hyaluronic injections are the most popular. These procedures are also known to make the patients look younger by treating moderate to severe frown lines and wrinkles.

A standard Botox procedure involving the upper face averages $800, said Dr. Loren Schechter, who performed such procedure for a patient which cost about about $5,000. Two vials of Restylane, a filler usually applied around the nose and lower face, can cost $1,200, added Schechter, who is an assistant professor of surgery and chief of plastic surgery at Chicago Medical School and an ASPS spokesperson.

Minor procedures like botox and filer injections do not require long recovery periods unlike invasive plastic surgery. This could be the reason why most women opt to have botox rather than a facelift – minimal downtime. However, it should be stressed that facelifts have a relatively more dramatic effect than botox.
"A lot of people don't want to be away from work," said ASPS president Dr. John Canady, professor of plastic surgery at the University of Iowa in Iowa City.

New York Plastic Surgeon Dr. Nicholas Vendemia of http://manhattanaestheticsurgery.com/ states that “Non-invasive plastic surgery is usually the patients’ choice because they can get back to their normal activities in just a matter of hours or days”.

According to a recent poll by the ASPS, about three quarters of cosmetic surgery practitioners report that there is “stable” demand for their services. However, individual surgeons say that they felt the economic impact of the recession.