Plastic Surgery: Slowing Aging since 1895

Most people have something about themselves they do not like. Whether it be their weight, acne scars, or even how their eyelids are shaped, changing these “defects” through the means of plastic surgery is becoming more common.

According to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, the number of plastic surgery procedures done in America has grown six-fold since 1997, increasing from 1.7 million to 10.6 million per year. However, this idea is far from new. Gaspare Tagliacozzi, an Italian surgeon, wrote the first plastic surgery textbook in 1895, and the first breast augmentation surgery occurred the same year.

The most common cosmetic procedure is breast augmentation, according to CBS News, with more than 286,200 women having breast enlargement surgery in 2014 in the United States. However, there has been a 9 percent decline from 2013, according to the BBC, perhaps because “the industry has been under intense scrutiny since a breast implant scandal” in 2012. (A kind of implant had been made from unauthorized silicone, and had twice the rupture rate as other implants. About 300,000 women received these implants.)

Nose reshaping is the second most common, with more than 243,000 operations in 2012 in the United States, followed by liposuction.

One of the most common procedures in Asian countries is called double-eyelid surgery. “South Korean women have become so immersed in western celebrity culture that double eyelid surgery, which creates the Caucasian crease many Asian women don’t naturally have, has become as common as going to the dentist,” writes a reporter for The Daily Mail.

According to CBS News, women make up 92 percent of plastic surgery clients, with people between the ages of 40 and 54 accounting for nearly half of all cosmetic procedures.

Women focus on three goals when it comes to plastic surgery, says Time magazine: “bigger butts, smaller labia and a smoother, fattier face.” The biggest jump in 2014 was in buttocks augmentation, which spiked 86 percent compared to the previous year, according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.

There was also a 49 percent increase in labiaplasty, “a procedure to reduce the size of or repair the labia minora, the inner labia of female genitalia.” Many believe this increase could be because of a rise in Internet porn, with women trying to look more like the actors in these movies.

There has also been a large increase in the number of men getting breast reduction surgery. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, these surgeries are up 14 percent from 2013.

Minimally invasive procedures such as Botox injections lead the industry, with more than 15 million performed worldwide; more than 21 percent occurred in the United States in 2013, according to The Guardian.

As these procedures are refined and improved, they are becoming more and more popular, and lead many to wonder, Will we even need to look old in the future?