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2005 Trends March On Several noticeable trends were confirmed by the Academy's annual survey. Two out of five of the surveyed surgeons have seen facial plastic surgery given as a gift in the past year. Forty-one percent of the surgeons reported teens undergoing cosmetic surgery while a couple undergoing cosmetic surgery together continues with 34 percent of surgeons spotting this trend. Nearly equal is the number of mothers and daughters refreshing their looks together and undergoing cosmetic surgery, according to 21 percent of surgeons. Not surprisingly, the majority of surgeons said that patients were not requesting specific celebrity features when they came in for cosmetic surgery, but rather viewed themselves as unique individuals. Only 13 percent of patients requested a celebrity facial feature. Also significant was the fact that this year's survey showed marked growth in patient education; four in five of the surgeons have seen a significant increase in patient knowledge regarding plastic surgery, including different procedures available and patient safety. Finally, nearly one-half of surgeons have seen patients traveling abroad to undergo cosmetic surgery and then come into their practices with complications or needing for a re-do. "We continue to see about half (51 percent) of patients having multiple procedures performed by the same doctor in the same year," reported Dr. Papel. "That may reflect the continued strength of non-surgical procedures that typically require an ongoing regime such as Botox, chemical peels and fat injections." The average cost of many procedures still remains in the low thousands, or even the hundreds of dollars. Surgeons estimate that 51 percent of the procedures performed in 2005 took place at private offices, and nearly that many (46 percent) at a free-standing surgical center. One-third were performed at hospitals (33 percent) and much fewer at medical spas (20 percent). |
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