Worldwide Plastic Surgery Statistics Available for the First Time

"ISAPS Biennial Global Survey" Reveals Trends in Procedures and Geographic Leadership

NEW YORK, August 9, 2010 - The International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS) is a world
leader in plastic surgery. After a year-long process, the Society has
produced the "ISAPS Biennial Global Survey(TM)" of plastic surgeons and
procedures in the top 25 countries and regions - representing 75% of all
procedures in 2009. The ISAPS Survey marks the first time reliable
international plastic surgery data has been obtained and analyzed by
independent statistical specialists.

"This year marks the 40th anniversary of the founding of ISAPS," noted
Foad Nahai, MD of the United States and current President of ISAPS. "The
Society was founded at the United Nations by a group of concerned and
proactive plastic surgeons. We could think of no better way of commemorating
this important milestone than by commissioning and releasing this
breakthrough Survey."

Geographic Trends

The ISAPS Global Survey revealed a new hierarchy of countries with the
most surgical and non surgical cosmetic procedures. While the United States
continues its dominance in the field, countries not always associated with
plastic surgery are emerging as major centers.

    The top 25 countries and regions are:

    1. United States            11. Argentina              21. Australia
    2. China                    12. Russia                 22. Venezuela
    3. Brazil                   13. Italy                  23. Saudi Arabia
    4. India                    14. France                 24. Netherlands
    5. Mexico                   15. Canada                 25. Portugal
    6. Japan                    16. Taiwan
    7. South Korea              17. United Kingdom
    8. Germany                  18. Colombia
    9. Turkey                   19. Greece
    10. Spain                   20. Thailand

Please note: fully detailed statistics are available for all categories
mentioned in this release as well as complete methodology at:
www.isaps.org

Most Popular Surgical and Non Surgical Procedures

For the last ten years, the consensus has been that breast augmentation
was the most popular plastic surgery procedure. The ISAPS Global Survey
reveals a new trend with liposuction representing 18.8% of all surgical
procedures, followed by breast augmentation at 17%, and blepharoplasty (upper
or lower eyelid lift) at 13.5%, rhinoplasty (nose reshaping) at 9.4% and
abdominoplasty ("Tummy Tuck") at 7.3%.

The popularity of surgical procedures varied by country with Brazil, the
United States, China, Mexico, India and Japan the dominant countries for the
top five procedures.

Reflecting both advances in cosmetic surgery innovation and the
desirability of less expensive treatments, the number of non surgical
procedures performed by plastic surgeons actually topped surgical procedures.
While there is no previous baseline of information against which to compare
these figures, there can be no doubt that this is a dramatic turn of events.

The top five non surgical procedures are: toxins or neuromodulators
injections (Botox, Dysport) (32.7%), hyaluronic acid injections (20.1%),
laser hair removal (13.1%), autologous fat injections (taking a patient's fat
from one location and transferring it in the same patient in another
location) (5.9%) and IP Laser treatment (4.4%).

The countries where non surgical procedures were performed were dominated
by the United States, Brazil, Mexico and China and to a lesser extent by
Japan, Hungary, South Korea, India and Germany.

Grand Totals - Finally a Credible Baseline

The ISAPS Global Survey also establishes several important statistics
with regard to the total number of board certified (or national equivalent)
plastic surgeons practicing today; estimated to be 30,817. The total number
of surgical procedures is projected to be 8,536,379 and the number of non
surgical procedures is estimated at 8,759,187 - bringing the combined
worldwide total of surgical and non surgical procedures performed by board
certified plastic surgeons to: 17,295,557. (This figure does not take into
account surgical and non surgical procedures performed by non plastic
surgeons.)

Dr. Jan Poell of Switzerland, the incoming President of ISAPS, observed
that, "The statistics revealed from the ISAPS Global Survey represent the
first credible and reliable baseline of information in the field. This is
valuable information that will be used by medical professionals and media as
an indispensable tool for calculating developments within our specialty and
general trends, long before governments or industry have amassed this data."

Methodology

"Calculating plastic surgery surgical and non surgical procedures
throughout the world was a complex and challenging initiative," noted Dr.
Sampaio Goes of Brazil, an ISAPS Past President and Chairman of the ISAPS
Communication Committee which oversaw this Survey. "We chose a respected
survey company with extensive experience in plastic surgery, and the results
they produced are credible, scientifically significant and will influence the
profession for years to come."

The ISAPS Biennial Global Survey was compiled, tabulated, and analyzed by
Industry Insights, Inc. (www.industryinsights.com) an independent
research firm based in Columbus, Ohio in the United States. The Survey leader
was Scott Hackworth, a Certified Public Accountant who along with firm has
conducted various forms of research on trends in Aesthetic Plastic Surgery
for nearly 15 years.

Participants in the Survey completed a two-page, English-based
questionnaire that focused on the number of surgical and non-surgical
procedures they performed in 2009. ISAPS issued an invitation to participate
in the study to approximately 20,000 Plastic Surgeons whose contact
information is housed in ISAPS proprietary database. In addition, a request
was made that all National Societies encourage their members to take part in
the survey.

Final figures have been projected to reflect international statistics and
are based exclusively on the estimated number of Plastic Surgeons in each
country. To aid in tallying the world-wide number of plastic surgeons,
representatives from National Societies provided the counts for over 75% of
the 31,000 total estimated plastic surgeons.

Though the confidence intervals change by procedure and by country -
depending on the sample size and response variance of each - the overall
survey portion of this research holds a standard error of +/- 4.24% at a 95%
level of confidence.

ISAPS 2010 Congress: This Survey is released to coincide with the 20th
Biennial Congress of ISAPS to be held on August 14-18 in San Francisco,
California, United States. For more information about the Congress or to
obtain credentials and/or follow up information contact:
credentials@conmx.net

For more information or to arrange an interview with an ISAPS expert
contact: tony@conmx.net

Journalist Please Note: We appreciate your citing the ISAPS website - a
non commercial, information based, consumer service site, so that others may
see full details of the ISAPS Biennial Global Survey. www.isaps.org

Tony Staffieri, International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS), tony at conmx.net