Arlington Heights, Ill. — According to statistics released recently by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ADPS), nearly 2.3 million cosmetic plastic surgery procedures were performed on minority patients in 2005 — an increase of 65 percent over the previous year’s number.
The Arlington Heights-based ASPS reports that 921,000 procedures were performed on Hispanics in 2005 — 9 percent of the 10.2 million overall procedures performed last year and a 67 percent increase over the number of procedures performed on Hispanics in 2004. The 769,000 procedures performed on blacks is also a 67 percent increase over the previous year’s total for this ethnic group, and represents 8 percent of the 2005 total of procedures performed. The number of procedures performed on Asian-Americans, 437,000, is a 58 percent increase in that ethnic group over the previous year.
The ASPS suggests that the reasons for the increase in plastic surgery among ethnic minorities are greater exposure to the benefits of plastic surgery and increased economic power within these groups.
The society sent out 17,000 surveys to plastic surgeons and doctors who perform cosmetic procedures, such as dermatologists and ear, nose and throat specialists. The results of the survey are based on about 500 responses, an ASPS spokesman says.
