San Francisco — Breast augmentation, liposuction and other elective procedures are increasingly popular in China and India, according to a global survey sponsored by the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS), Medscape Today reports.
The survey, results of which were released during the ISAPS 20th Biennial Congress here this week, ranks the two countries along with the United States and Brazil as top users of aesthetic plastic surgery.
According to the survey, 17.1 million cosmetic plastic surgery procedures were performed worldwide in 2009. The top five countries in terms of total procedures performed were the United States with 3,031,146; Brazil, 2,475,237; China, 2,193,945; India, 894,700; and Mexico, 835,280.
Medscape Today quotes Foad Nahai, M.D., ISAPS immediate pas- president, as saying China’s and India’s prominence is due to their rapid economic growth.
“There are rapidly growing middle classes in China and India, and their disposable incomes are growing,” Dr. Nahai said. “Plastic surgery is very popular in China, just as it is in Western Europe and the United States. The media are interested in it. There is always something in the press.”
The survey found that on a per-capita basis, cosmetic procedures were most popular in South Korea, where 13.5 procedures per 1,000 people were performed. The country has a population of 48.8 million.
