Who's Getting Liposuction?

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Liposuction means literally the suction of fat

. It is a surgical procedure which uses special needles called cannulas to remove excess body fat from specific target areas. When liposuction (also called lipoplasty) was first invented, it seems that it was the exclusive territory of the elite, the rich and the famous, something meant for only the flashiest of Hollywood divas.

However, as time has gone on, liposuction has become more widespread. It has crossed boundaries of class, so that it is available for more than merely the upper crust. It has begun to cross boundaries of gender, resulting in more men getting this cosmetic surgery which originally was stereotypically seen as a woman's surgery. However, liposuction and cosmetic surgery have not become entirely egalitarian. There are still distinct trends in who gets these procedures. This article will explore the question of "who's getting liposuction now?" It takes its facts from statistics provided by the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.

The easiest line to draw regarding who gets liposuction is that of gender. In 2008, 309,692 women underwent liposuction. This is over ten times the number of men who underwent the same procedure, 30,174. Interestingly, though, liposuction was the most popular cosmetic surgery among men, while it was only the second most common among women. In men, lipoplasty topped the charts, followed by rhinoplasty (nose job) and Blepharoplasty (cosmetic eyelid surgery). In women, breast augmentation took the number one spot, with liposuction coming in second and blepharoplasty coming in third. 2008 marks the first time in twelve years where liposuction was ousted as the number one most popular plastic surgery.

The next line which can easily be drawn is that of age. In 2008, the age group that received the most liposuctions was 35-50 years old. People in this age group received 49.1% of all lipoplasties performed in the United States. The next largest group was 19-34, which received 28.1%. People aged 51-64 received 20.4%, while people aged 65+ received 1.7%. The smallest demographic was people aged 18 and under, who only received 0.8% of the total number of liposuctions.

Class lines are difficult to draw, because the ASAPS did not record class or income data. However, it is certain that the development of financing plans for liposuction and other cosmetic surgeries marks at least some amount of shift from the upper class down into the middle classes.

While the ASAPS did not publish statistics regarding the racial or ethnic popularity of liposuction in specific, it did publish general percentages regarding cosmetic procedures as a whole. In 2008, 79.8% of cosmetic procedures (including both surgical and non-surgical) were received by Caucasians. The next largest group was Hispanics, who made up 8%. They were followed by African-Americans, who made up 67.4% and people of Asian descent, who made up 4.1%.

by: Christian Heftel

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