It's about feeling more comfortable with yourself
The International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery released its 2014 Global Stats Report on July 31, totaling and tallying plastic surgery and related information, including breast augmentation from around the world.
The results come from data regarding procedures performed in 2013, and were gathered from surveys given to almost 1,600 international plastic surgeons.
So what are those results?
Four surgeries in particular surpassed the 1 million mark in terms of the number of times they were performed around the globe in 2013. Lipostructure, eyelid surgery, and liposuction all proved popular, but they all fell shy of breast augmentation, which represented a bit more than 15 percent of the total plastic surgery procedures performed worldwide in 2013.
The United States leads the pack, with 313,703 out of the total 1,773,584 breast augmentation procedures reported in 2013. Brazil is next, followed by Mexico and Germany.
While the numbers are impressive, they should not come as a surprise. Breast augmentation is the most popular plastic surgery procedure in Toronto and in North America. Though liposuction took the top spot in some countries, according to the stats report, breast augmentation reigns supreme.
Why is breast augmentation so popular? It could be because the surgery treats so many different issues that stem from a variety of causes. A woman may simply want to add volume to her breasts so her clothes fit better or because she likes the aesthetics of larger breasts. Another woman may want to correct an asymmetry, having grown tired of one breast being larger than the other and giving her an imbalanced look. Yet another woman might want to augment breasts that have suffered trauma or disease. Still another woman might want to recapture what her chest looked like before she gave birth to and nursed her children. There are just about as many reasons to get a breast augmentation surgery as there are women seeking the procedure.
When handled properly and thoughtfully—which includes approaching the surgery with realistic expectations and a healthy, positive mindset—a breast augmentation can provide psychological as well as physical benefits.
Proper preparation and communication with an experienced and committed plastic surgeon can also lead to a decision to combine breast augmentation with other popular procedures. Implants can give the breasts more projection, but a profile can be further refined with a tummy tuck or liposuction—the latter of which currently sits as the fourth most popular plastic surgery procedure in the world.
It is clear from the statistics that the popularity of plastic surgery in general, and of breast augmentation in particular, is not limited by geographic boundaries, but rather is a reflection of our desire for self improvement—a theme that appears to be consistent across the globe.
