Arlington Heights, Ill. — Figures released by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) suggest that the increasing number of patients seeking weight loss surgery apparently has fueled a sharp increase in the number of patients seeking body-contouring procedures.
According to the Arlington Heights-based ASPS, the number of cosmetic procedures performed to remove excess skin is up 22 percent since 2005, and that the five fastest-growing cosmetic surgeries are procedures done to remove excess skin. In 2005, about 68,000 body-contouring procedures were performed. The ASPS reports that these five procedures alone generated more than $700 million dollars in surgeon’s fees.
The ASPS says that last year, some 170,000 gastric bypass and laparoscopic procedures were performed in an effort to combat obesity—and that a decade ago, only 16,000 such procedures were performed.
