Lipoplasty remains the most performed cosmetic procedure in the world, representing 19.9% of total surgical procedures, and the United States, Brazil, China, Japan and Italy are the most dominant countries for surgical procedures, according to the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, the largest international society of individual plastic surgeons.

The society invited 20,000 plastic surgeons to participate in its third annual Global Study of Aesthetic/Cosmetic Surgery Procedures Performed, to determine the numbers and types of procedures performed in 2011. The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery and Brazilian Society of Plastic Surgery assisted with the study, which had 996 respondents.

The rest of the worldwide top 10 cosmetic procedures: breast augmentation (18.9% of procedures), blepharoplasty (11.0%), abdominoplasty (8.7%), rhinoplasty (7.5%), breast lift (7.0%); breast reduction - women (6.7%), facelift (4.8%), treatment of gynecomastia/male breast reduction (2.7%) and otoplasty (2.6%). In the United States, the order of the top 5 is breast augmentation, lipoplasty, abdominoplasty, blepharoplasty and breast lift. Injection of botulinum toxin type A, at 38.1%, was the leading nonsurgical procedure.

The results, projected to reflect international statistics and based exclusively on the estimated number of plastic surgeons in each country and the respondent sample, do not account for surgical and nonsurgical procedures performed by those who aren't plastic surgeons.

Stephanie Wasek