“Feeling good – and looking good – is in style once again” – the rise of plastic surgery in America

Summary from The Independent, 8.2.11

Stephen Foley, a blogger on the UK newspaper, the Independent, has given the “Best Use of an Eye-Catching Headline in a Press Release” award to the Long Island Plastic Surgical Group (LIPSG).

Why? Because – somehow – it managed to link Wall Street, the economy and wait for it … boobs. The title reads:

Wall Street and Boobs Are Back!  Plastic Surgery on the Rise Again for the First Time in Years

Nation’s Economy Gets Boost as 13.1 Million Cosmetic Procedures Performed in 2010, Up 5%

Citing stats from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), it appears (sadly) that plastic surgery in the United States has increased by more than 5% over the last year, with 13.1 million procedures carried out in 2010.

The top five surgical procedures were found to be breast augmentation, nose reshaping, eyelid surgery, liposuction and the tummy tuck.

LIPSG explain the increase in cosmetic plastic surgery as a result of a rise in consumer confidence throughout most of 2010:

“This dramatic return (to) cosmetic plastic surgery reflects the rise in consumer confidence that we’ve seen throughout most of 2010,” said Dr. Kaveh Alizadeh, a noted plastic surgeon and LIPSG’s president, adding that ”Feeling good – and looking good – is in style once again.”

Presumably, that is, unless you’re one of the many on the unemployment heap or still staggering from the effects of having been sold a sub-prime mortgage.

To say nothing of the impact of the so-called beauty industry which manages to make so many women (and increasing numbers of men) feel so inadequate about their looks that they go under a knife to change them.