Despite a the economy, the demand to be beautiful continues to grow. In 2010, Americans spent 10 billion dollars and had over 13.1 million cosmetic procedures and treatments, a 9% increase from 2009.

Procedures that have increased (and decreased):

• Botox has the largest growth – up 12% over the previous year and grossing over $1 billion
• Breast enhancement is the top surgical procedure – up 2%
• The largest decline is in surgical lip augmentation, which is down 21% and collagen injections are down 5%. With all the bad lip enhancement publicity for celebrities such as Meg Ryan, Nikki Cox, Lisa Rinna, Melanie Griffith, Janice Dickinson and many more have received, this trend is not surprising.
• There was a 61% increase in calf augmentations – although they only count for 418 cases – we may see this as a growing trend.

Competition is fierce in these top cities amongst Certified Plastic Surgeons, especially when you add in other physicians that are practicing various cosmetic procedures in the same city. Marketing yourself and standing out from the rest is so very important.

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Determining Plastic Surgeons Per Capita

To rank the cities, the number of plastic surgeons were obtained in each city from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). The ASPS represents about 90% of all Board Certified Plastic Surgeons. While it is possible for plastic surgeons to practice without board certification, it is highly recommended that patients only seek out Board Certified plastic surgeons.

Next the number of Board Certified plastic surgeons was calculated per every 100,000 people. Population statistics were pulled from US Census Bureau. No one under the age of 18 (minors only account for 2% of cosmetic surgeries nationwide) were included.

Although New York has the most plastic surgeons (249 total) in the US, it only placed 42 out of 50. Unexpected cities such as Nashville, & Lousiville may have risen to the top ten due to university programs and centers that focus on plastic surgery and/or an influx of younger more affluent people to smaller cities.

The complete list
Number of Plastic surgeons per 100,000 people over the age of 18

Infographic prepared by the San Francisco Plastic Surgery & Laser Center.