Chin Surgery Benefits & Side Effects. Chin surgery skyrockets by 71% in the U.S. With more American career women wanting to look good for video conferencing, and more American male executives wanting to project a strong and decisive CEO-like image, the numbers of ‘chinplants’ — or chin augmentations — carried out in the United States in 2011 have exploding to 20,680.
In fact, chin surgeries have grown more than boob jobs, Botox and liposuction combined, according to new statistics from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. The numbers of “chinplants” — the surgical procedure done to enhance and define the chin line — grew by 71 percent in 2011 from 2010.
And the rates of growth for both men and women, as well as for different age brackets, didn’t differ that much — indicating that chin jobs are now increasingly becoming popular across the board.
From 2010 to 2011, chin augmentation grew by:
• 71 percent overall
• 66 percent for women
• 76 percent for men
• 68 percent for people 20-29 years old
• 69 percent for people 30-39 years old
• 77 percent for people between ages 40 and 54
• 70 percent for people ages 55 and older
But the chin implants still account for a small proportion of the overall number of cosmetic procedures being done by U.S. surgeons.
According to the ASPS — which represents 7,000 surgeons in the U.S.:
• Breast augmentation was still the most popular cosmetic surgical procedure in 2011. Surgeons performed 307,180 that year.
• The second most popular was nose reshaping, with 243,772 occurring in 2011.
• Third, liposuction; 204,702
• Fourth, eyelid surgery; 196,286
• Fifth, facelifts 119,026
Last month, data from American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery — an older organization of cosmetic surgeons in the U.S. recognized as the leader in cosmetic surgery research, education, and procedural advances — showed that liposuction was the most common cosmetic surgical procedure in 2011. There were 325,332 liposuction operations conducted in 2011, closely followed by breast augmentation (316,848).
Why chins? Why now?
“We’re a much more image-driven society than we were even five years ago,” says Dr. Darrick Antell, a Manhattan plastic surgeon and clinical professor of surgery at Columbia University. “People have cameras everywhere,” he tells Today health at msnbc.com. “You can be at a wedding at the buffet table and a moment later see pictures of your double chin on Facebook,” he quips.
“The chin and jawline are among the first areas to show signs of aging. People are considering chin augmentation as a way to restore their youthful look just like a facelift or eyelid surgery,” says Dr. Malcolm Z. Roth, president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, in the statement that accompanied the release of the new ASPS statistics.
“We also know that as more people see themselves on video chat technology, they may notice that their jawline is not as sharp as they want it to be. Chin implants can make a dramatic difference,” he adds.
Video conferencing is becoming one of the fastest growing IT markets in the world and by 2016 the industry will be worth £2.3 billion (US$3.65 billion), according London-based IT analyst and consultancy firm Ovum.
Executives of global organizations like HSBC, GlaxoSmithKline and News Corporation have already signed orders for telepresence, seeking to replace costly and time-consuming face-to-face meetings and travel, The Daily Mail reports, citing an Ovum analysis, the Enterprise Business Video Forecast: 2011-16 report.
“Enterprises are seizing the huge opportunity that video conferencing offers them to cut costs and improve productivity by reducing business travel, the Mail quotes Ovum analyst Richard Thurston, author of the report. “They are starting to use video conferencing much more frequently because of ongoing economic concerns (and) continued efforts to reduce their carbon footprint, (while) enhancements in video technology and price reductions are improving the business case,” Thurston says.
The spectacular growth in the numbers of chinplants is also driven by the fact that these are same-day procedures, with soreness and swelling lasting for around two weeks only.
But Dr. Mehmet Oz of the popular Dr. Oz show warns consumers that chin implant surgery is not without risk. Speaking to Today Health, he says there’s a five to seven percent chance of infection.
People considering chinplants should make sure that their surgeon is board-certified, experienced at the procedure and has hospital privileges (even though the procedure is usually done in an office). Also, ask for references and check them out, Dr. Oz says.
Finally, Dr. Oz cautions that people seeking chin implants should realize that the plastic surgery will not guarantee happiness. “Ask the soul-searching question: am I happy, or am I doing this to make me happy? Because the latter is not a good way to go,” he points out.
His question isn’t only relevant for those who want to have their chins fixed — it’s relevant to the steadily growing number of people who have cosmetic procedures.
Among the newly popular procedures that that grew more popular in 2011 are:
• Lip augmentation — which grew by 49 percent from 2010
• Cheek implants — grew by 47 percent
• Laser skin resurfacing — 9 percent
• Soft tissue fillers — 7 percent
• Facelifts which — 5 percent
Other top cosmetic procedures that are minimally invasive are:
Botulinum Toxin Type A (Botox®, Dysport®) — 5,670,788 done in 2011
Soft Tissue Fillers — 1,891,158 procedures
Chemical peel — 1,110,464
Laser hair removal — 1,078,612
Microdermabrasion — 900,439
The questions posed by Dr. Oz are also good to consider together with this fact — buried in the ASPS report: A growing proportion of women who have a breast augmentation eventually have it removed. In 2011, while there were 307,180 women who had breast augmentation surgeries, there were 22,271 women who had their augmentation implants removed.
Meanwhile, British surgeons tell BBC that chin impants were rarely done in isolation — but carried out as part of a package of cosmetic surgery, usually including a face lift and a nose job.
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