Overview
The International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS) surveys board-certified plastic surgeons each year on the procedures they performed. The authors analyzed the survey results from 2010 to 2023. Surveys were anonymous, online, and designed and validated by an outside firm.
Findings
- 2023: 34.9 million surgical and nonsurgical procedures, a 3.4% increase.
- More than 15.8 million surgical and more than 19.1 million nonsurgical procedures.
- Overall increase over the last 4 years: 40%, more pronounced since 2021.
- Top 5 surgical procedures: liposuction, breast augmentation, eyelid surgery, abdominoplasty, rhinoplasty.
- Face and head procedures remain the most popular group; it includes brow lift, eyelid surgery, facelift, facial fat grafting, neck lift and rhinoplasty.
- Body and extremity procedures: more than 5.1 million in 2023 vs 2.6 million in 2009.
- Top 5 nonsurgical: botulinum toxin, hyaluronic acid, hair removal, chemical peels, nonsurgical fat reduction.
- Men: 14.5% of all procedures.
- Implant removal grew 46.3% over the past 5 years.
- Level of evidence: III.
What it means for a patient
- Facelift and neck lift are part of the most popular group of aesthetic procedures worldwide, though the abstract gives no facelift count.
- Procedure volume rose 40% in 4 years.
- The authors advise choosing a board-certified, trained plastic surgeon and an accredited facility, especially when traveling abroad for surgery.
- These are survey data reported by surgeons, not outcome data.
Why this paper matters
It gives 14 years of global procedure counts from surgeons and shows face and head procedures as the most popular group. The authors also suggest regenerative medicine may make it possible to avoid the need for facelifts in the future; the abstract gives no data on this. Cited 140 times (NIH iCite, 2026-09-25).
Terms
- ISAPS: the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.
- Nonsurgical procedure: a treatment without incisions, such as injections or peels.
- Botulinum toxin: an injected drug that relaxes muscles to smooth wrinkles.
- Hyaluronic acid: a gel filler injected to add volume.
- Medical tourism: traveling to another country for medical treatment.
- Board-certified: certified by a recognized specialty board after training and exams.
- Regenerative medicine: treatments that aim to repair or renew tissue, such as with fat-derived stem cells.