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Baby Boomers Embrace Plastic Surgery

by Wendy Travis

The baby boomer generation is defined as the population born after World War II, between 1946 and 1964. Because this demographic is such a large one, they have been responsible for shaping many of the trends in our country today. One such trend is the tendency toward plastic surgery of all kinds – from simple wrinkle fillers to full "Mommy Makeovers" that include breast augmentation, breast lift and tummy tuck. There are a number of reasons why baby boomers and plastic surgery appear to be getting more synonymous today. PlasticSurgeryPortal will explore some of those reasons, and provide a list of some of the most popular procedures sought by baby boomers today.

Why Plastic Surgery?
There are many possible reasons why baby boomers are turning to plastic surgery, including:

More procedures are readily available, so it is much easier to find a relatively non-invasive procedure that gives them the results they want.
As doctors are becoming more experienced at some of the newer procedures, patients can enjoy safe treatments that offer stellar results.
Plastic surgery has become more acceptable in the past decade, with reality television programs and many celebrities endorsing the procedures and serving as living examples of the benefits treatments provide.
The focus on healthy living by the baby boomer generation has inspired them to seek procedures that will keep them as robust on the outside as they feel on the inside.
The desire for youthfulness has led many baby boomers in search of procedures and treatments that will turn back the clock on their skin and body.
Many of the procedures available today offer good results with little discomfort during the procedure and almost no downtime afterward.

While plastic surgery is a personal decision, and every patient has her own reasons for choosing this path, these are many of the common denominators found with baby boomers seeking out plastic surgery procedures today.

Declining Numbers don't Mean Lower Interest
A report last year on the American Society of Plastic Surgeons website suggested that the demand for plastic surgery may be on the decline, not only by baby boomers, but other segments of the population as well. However, upon further investigation of those shrinking numbers, it was found that the decline in demand was due more to the economic slowdown, rather than a reduced interest in the procedures themselves. According to this report, more than two-thirds of the participants polled by Harris Interactive said they would have a cosmetic procedure if money was not an issue. Those numbers were up 15 points from approximately a year before, indicating the consumer interest is on the incline.

Types of Procedures
Baby boomers are a diverse crowd and that makes it difficult to pin down the types of procedures this generation tends to go toward. However, some of the cosmetic surgery procedures sought by the boomer generation, according to statistics reported by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, are listed here:

Botox – Around 80 percent of all Botox patients in 2008 were between the ages of 40 and 55
Eyelid Surgery – The more than 200,000 bleroplasty procedures performed on baby boomers in the same year comprised about 90 percent of all eyelid surgeries
Liposuction – While many primarily think of liposuction as a procedure for younger patients, those between the ages of 35 and 64 made up almost 70 percent of all liposuction surgeries in 2008
Breast Augmentation – Nearly half of all breast enhancements were performed on patients that fall into the baby boomer generation during this same year, however, most in that category fell into the 35 to 50 age category, with numbers dropping significantly after age 50

Plastic surgery has become much more common for the baby boomer generation, as this age group tries to hang on their youth for as long as possible. With more procedures available than ever before, there are plenty of options for boomers to improve their appearance with safe, non-invasive treatments that provide stellar results. If you are interested in a cosmetic procedure, contact one of our representatives at PlasticSurgeryPortal to find a doctor in your area.