The Aesthetic Society has released its annual Aesthetic Plastic Surgery Statistics, which shows a 2021 surge in aesthetic plastic surgeries—particularly face, breast, and body procedures. Overall, procedures such as abdominoplasty, buttock augmentation, and liposuction increased by 63% since 2020.

Breast procedures such as breast augmentation, augmentation/ breast lift and breast lift/reductions were up 48%. Specialized face procedures such as brow lifts and face lifts increased 54% last year. With more than 2,200 board-certified plastic surgeons comprising its Active membership, The Aesthetic Society is at the forefront of research, education, and innovation.

These marked increases saw Americans spending over $14.6 billion dollars on aesthetic procedures in 2021 with surgical revenues increasing by 63%. 2021 data illustrates a possible effect of life amid the global pandemic, with many Aesthetic Society members signaling to the ubiquity of video meetings and more downtime, to patients undergoing more surgical face and body procedures. 

“Our new, more accurate digitally extracted data demonstrates that all major procedure groups had significant increases in the last year,” says William P. Adams, Jr., MD, President of The Aesthetic Society. “Many factors have facilitated this growth including very high patient satisfaction, the pandemic and patients wanting to do something for themselves— and even some effects from increased video conferencing. As more people continue to pursue these specialized aesthetic procedures, we urge them to also seek a plastic surgeon board-certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery to receive the highest standard of care and expertise.”  

Key Findings of 2021 Aesthetic Plastic Surgery Statistics:

  • Surgical procedures increased 54% and non-surgical procedures were up 44%. 
  • The average plastic surgeon performed 320 surgical procedures in 2021, compared with 220 in 2020. 
  • On average, the cost of a surgical procedure increased 6% in 2021, and the cost of a non-surgical procedure increased 1%. 
  • Women accounted for approximately 94% of all procedures. 
  • There were 365,000 breast augmentations performed in 2021 (+44%).  In addition, 148,000 women had implants removed and replaced (+32% from 2020), and 71,000 had their implants removed and not replaced (+47%). 
  • Surgical procedures accounted for 69% of all revenue, despite being just 21% of total procedures.

The data also identifies the top 6 surgical and non-surgical procedures performed by board-certified U.S. plastic surgeons as follows:

Top Surgical Procedures (By Procedure Count)

  • Liposuction: 491,098 
  • Breast Augmentation: 364,753 
  • Abdominoplasty (Tummy Tuck): 242,939 
  • Mastopexy (Breast Lift): 167,395 
  • Blepharoplasty (Eyelid): 149,668 
  • Breast Implant Removal/Replacement:147,684 

Top Non-Surgical Procedures (By Procedure Count) 

  • Neurotoxins: 3,651,223 
  • Dermal Fillers: 1,857,339 
  • Skin Treatment (Chemical Peels, Hydrofacials, etc):1,390,149 
  • Hair Removal: 454,954 
  • Skin Treatment (Combination Lasers): 431,485 
  • Skin Tightening: 391,855 

The Aesthetic Society compiled 2021 data using the Aesthetic Neural Network (ANN) data. Partnering with Ronan Solutions™, ANN connects directly to participating Aesthetic Society member plastic surgeons’ Practice Management systems, retrieving real-time, de-identified billing data. The data is reviewed and mapped by subject matter experts to generate a dynamic, comprehensive, longitudinal, valid, and reliable repository of procedural and billing data.