Cosmetic surgeons have few better customers than reality television star Heidi Montag. The 23-year-old star of the recently canceled series The Hills revealed to People magazine this year that she’d undergone 10 plastic surgeries in a single operate-a-thon day last fall. …
… Too bad other plastic surgeons aren’t doing as well as Montag’s doctor. The recession has hit the cosmetic surgery business in a big way. The number of major cosmetic surgeries plummeted 17% last year to 1.5 million from 1.8 million in 2008, according to an annual survey by the ASAPS based on data from 928 board-certified physicians. More than 90% of all cosmetic procedures were performed on women. …
… It’s no surprise that people are choosing more affordable alternatives to surgery, says Renato Saltz, president of the ASAPS. The average cost of a facelift is $6,881 vs. just $397 for one round of Botox. Saltz says that patients these days seem far less eager to pay for surgeries with credit and are nervous about taking time off from work after an invasive procedure. Recovering from a facelift requires two weeks, a nose job seven to 10 days. With unemployment levels high, taking this much time off for an optional operation is a risk that many people can no longer afford to take.
