Cosmetic surgery is a voluntary or elective surgery that is performed on normal parts of the body with the sole purpose of improving a person's appearance or removing signs of aging. Some cosmetic surgeries such as breast reduction are also functional and can help to relieve symptoms of discomfort such as back ache or neck ache. Cosmetic surgeries are also undertaken following breast cancer and mastectomy to recreate the natural breast shape which has been lost during the process of removing the cancer. In 2014, nearly 16 million cosmetic procedures were performed in the United States alone. The number of cosmetic procedures performed in the United States has almost doubled since the start of the century. In 2014, 92% of cosmetic procedures were performed on women, up from 88% in 2001. Approximately 15.6 million cosmetic procedures were performed in 2020, with the five most common surgeries being
rhinoplasties,
blepharoplasties,
rhytidectomies,
liposuctions, and
breast augmentation. Breast augmentation continues to be one of the top 5 cosmetic surgical procedures and has been since 2006.
Silicone implants were used in 84% and saline implants in 16% of all breast augmentations in 2020. The
American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery looked at the statistics for 34 different cosmetic procedures. Nineteen of the procedures were surgical, such as rhinoplasties or rhytidectomies. The nonsurgical procedures included
botox and
laser hair removal. In 2010, their survey revealed that there were 9,336,814 total procedures in the United States. Of those, 1,622,290 procedures were surgical (p. 5). They also found that a large majority, 81%, of the procedures were done on Caucasian people (p. 12). Tenth-century Spanish physician
Abu Alkasem Al-Zahrawi published one of the first medical textbooks with strictly cosmetic (non-reconstructive) surgical procedures, the
Kitab al-Tasrif. He was thought to have been inspired by the 7th-century work of
Paulus Aeginata. This seminal text instructed on the removal of male
gynecomastia growths, an early example of a gender-affirming
breast augmentation procedure. The earliest attention devoted to the concept of the cosmetic includes the work of philosopher
Francis Bacon. He was the first English-language writer to define the term in book II of his 1605 text
The Advancement of Learning, coining it the 'art of decoration'. This word is believed to have originated in the
public baths culture of the
ancient Romans, which featured female slaves called
cosmetae, who performed aesthetic treatments on visitors.
Cosmetae is rooted in the Greek term
cosmetikos, signifying to order or adorn. This term began to intertwine with aesthetic considerations as a result of the defects caused by the 16th-century
syphilis epidemic. These procedures were depicted in writing and illustrations as early as the 7th century, in texts such as the Byzantine physician
Paul of Aegina's Medical Compendium, as well as
Lanfranc da Milano's 13th century text Great Surgery. The
American Society of Plastic Surgeons estimates that more than 333,000 cosmetic procedures were performed on patients 18 years of age or younger in the US in 2005 compared to approx. 14,000 in 1996. The increased use of cosmetic procedures crosses racial and ethnic lines in the U.S., with increases seen among African-Americans, Asian Americans and Hispanic Americans as well as Caucasian Americans. In Asia, cosmetic surgery has become more popular, and countries such as China and India have become Asia's biggest cosmetic surgery markets. South Korea is also rising in popularity in Asian and Western countries due to their expertise in facial bone surgeries (see
cosmetic surgery in South Korea). Plastic surgery is increasing slowly, rising 115% from 2000 to 2015. "According to the annual plastic surgery procedural statistics, there were 15.9 million surgical and minimally-invasive cosmetic procedures performed in the United States in 2015, a 2 percent increase over 2014." A study from 2021 found that requests for cosmetic procedures had increased significantly since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, possibly due to the increase in
videoconferencing; cited estimates include a 10% increase in the United States and a 20% increase in France. The most popular aesthetic/cosmetic procedures include: •
Abdominoplasty ("tummy tuck"): reshaping and firming of the
abdomen •
Blepharoplasty ("eyelid surgery"): reshaping of upper/lower eyelids including
Asian blepharoplasty • While blepharoplasty remains the most common procedure for modifying eyelid shape, non-surgical alternatives are increasingly sought after, especially in East Asia. • Methods such as double eyelid tape, eyelid glue, and structured eyelid training systems allow individuals to temporarily or semi-permanently create a double eyelid crease without surgery. Some of these products use mechanical reinforcement to 'encourage crease retention over time. • Unlike traditional adhesive-based tapes, structured eyelid training tapes aim to replicate mechanotransduction — a biological process where skin tension encourages crease formation. Studies on long-term non-surgical crease retention remain limited, but anecdotal evidence suggests some users achieve lasting results after sustained use. •
Phalloplasty ("penile surgery"): construction (or reconstruction) of a penis or, sometimes, artificial modification of the penis by surgery, often for cosmetic purposes •
Mammoplasty: •
Breast augmentations ("
breast implant" or "boob job"): augmentation of the
breasts by means of fat grafting, saline, or silicone gel prosthetics, which was initially performed for women with
micromastia •
Reduction mammoplasty ("breast reduction"): removal of skin and glandular tissue, which is done to reduce back and shoulder pain in women with
gigantomastia and for men with
gynecomastia •
Mastopexy ("breast lift"): Lifting or reshaping of breasts to make them less saggy, often after weight loss (after a pregnancy, for example). It involves the removal of breast skin as opposed to glandular tissue • Augmentation mastopexy ("breast lift with breast implants"): Lifting breasts to make them less saggy, repositioning the nipple to a higher location, and increasing breast size with saline or silicone gel implants. Recent studies of a newer technique for simultaneous augmentation mastopexy (SAM) indicate that it is a safe surgical procedure with minimal medical complications. The SAM technique involves invaginating and tacking the tissues first, in order to previsualize the result, before making any surgical incisions to the breast. •
Buttock augmentation ("butt implant"): enhancement of the
buttocks using silicone implants or fat grafting ("Brazilian butt lift") where fat is transferred from other areas of the body •
Cryolipolysis: refers to a medical device used to destroy fat cells. Its principle relies on controlled cooling for the non-invasive local reduction of fat deposits to reshape body contours. •
Cryoneuromodulation: Treatment of superficial and subcutaneous tissue structures using gaseous
nitrous oxide, including temporary wrinkle reduction, temporary pain reduction, treatment of dermatologic conditions, and focal cryo-treatment of tissue • Calf augmentation: done by silicone implants or fat transfer to add bulk to calf muscles •
Labiaplasty: surgical reduction and reshaping of the
labia •
Lip augmentation: alters the appearance of the lips by increasing their fullness through surgical enlargement with lip implants or nonsurgical enhancement with injectable fillers •
Cheiloplasty: surgical reconstruction of the lip •
Rhinoplasty ("nose job"): reshaping of the
nose sometimes used to correct breathing impaired by structural defects. •
Otoplasty ("ear surgery"/"ear pinning"): reshaping of the
ear, most often done by pinning the protruding ear closer to the head. •
Rhytidectomy ("face lift"): removal of wrinkles and signs of aging from the face •
Neck lift: tightening of lax tissues in the neck. This procedure is often combined with a facelift for lower face rejuvenation. •
Browplasty ("brow lift" or "forehead lift"): elevates eyebrows, smoothens forehead skin • Midface lift ("cheek lift"): tightening of the cheeks •
Genioplasty: augmentation of the
chin with an individual's bones or with the use of an implant, usually silicone, by suture of the soft tissue •
Mentoplasty: surgery to the chin. This can involve either enhancing or reducing the size of the chin. Enhancements are achieved with the use of facial implants. Reduction of the chin involves reducing the size of the chin bone. •
Cheek augmentation ("cheek implant"): implants to the cheek •
Orthognathic surgery: altering the upper and lower jaw bones (through osteotomy) to correct jaw alignment issues and correct the teeth alignment • Fillers injections:
collagen,
fat, and other tissue filler injections, such as
hyaluronic acid •
Brachioplasty ("Arm lift"): reducing excess skin and fat between the underarm and the elbow •
Laser skin rejuvenation or
laser resurfacing: the lessening of the depth of facial pores and exfoliation of dead or damaged skin cells •
Liposuction ("suction lipectomy"): removal of fat deposits by traditional suction technique or ultrasonic energy to aid fat removal •
Zygoma reduction plasty: reducing the facial width by performing osteotomy and resecting part of the zygomatic bone and arch) once it has been stretched past capacity and is unable to recoil back to its standard position against the body and also with age. •
Sclerotherapy: removing visible '
spider veins' (Telangiectasia), which appear on the surface of the skin. •
Dermal fillers: Dermal fillers are injected below the skin to give a more fuller, more youthful appearance of a feature or section of the face. One type of dermal filler is hyaluronic acid. Hyaluronic acid is naturally found throughout the human body. It plays a vital role in moving
nutrients to the cells of the skin from the blood. It is also commonly used in patients with
arthritis as it acts like a cushion to the bones which have depleted the
articular cartilage casing. Development within this field has occurred over time with synthetic forms of hyaluronic acid is being created, playing roles in other forms of cosmetic surgery such as facial augmentation. •
Micropigmentation: is the creation of permanent makeup using natural pigments to places such as the eyes to create the effect of eye shadow, lips creating lipstick and cheek bones to create a blush like look. The pigment is inserted beneath the skin using a machine which injects a small needle at a very fast rate carrying pigment into the skin, creating a lasting colouration of the desired area. In 2015, the most popular surgeries were botox, liposuction, blepharoplasties, breast implants, rhynoplasties, and rhytidectomies. According to the 2020 Plastic Surgery Statistics Report, which is published by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the most surgical procedure performed in the U.S. was rhinoplasty (nose reshaping) accounting for 15.2% of all cosmetic surgical procedures that year, followed by blepharoplasty (eyelid surgery), which accounted for 14% of all procedures. The third most populous procedure was rhytidectomy (facelift) (10% of all procedures), then liposuction (9.1% of all procedures). ==Complications, risks, and reversals==