Body Contouring Up 77 Percent in 5 Years

More than 106,000 body-contouring procedures were performed in 2002, up 77 percent from the previous five years, a U.S. plastic surgeons group reported.

Breast lifts far outnumbered all other such procedures combined, with some 76,000 performed in 2002, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.

That year, surgeons also performed 10,000 upper-arm lifts and 3,500 buttock lifts as well as 8,000 thigh lifts and 9,000 lower-body lifts.

The majority of procedures, some 56,000, were for individuals seeking to adjust their bodies after massive weight loss.

There has been an explosion in the demand for body contouring surgery, and I think this can be explained by the rapidly increasing numbers of patients who have dramatic weight loss, said Scott Spear, president of ASPS. At the same time, this new group of patients has served as a catalyst for surgeons to create surgical techniques that can now be transferred to other patients where there are only average needs from mild weight loss, pregnancy or aging.