American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons

Women are vain. According to the American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (ASAPS), women make up 87% of all cosmetic surgery procedures. Although plastic surgery among men is not nearly as common, its numbers have increased throughout the past few years. Men and women still have different views on the matter, especially involving their top 5 procedures, age, and reasons for the surgery. The increase in popularity among both genders has led to interesting similarities and differences among both sexes.

ASAPS, the nations leading organization for cosmetic surgery education and research, conducted a survey in order to find out the top 5 surgical procedures for men and women. According to the surveys results, women are almost ten times more likely to have liposuction or rhinoplastic surgery than men, while men appeared more likely to undergo hair transplants and breast reduction to treat enlarged male breasts. Both men and women are equally as likely to have blepharoplasty (eyelid surgery). Few cosmetic procedures are predominantly geared towards one gender, and men generally seek the same surgeries as do women, so the differences among procedure popularity are considered psychological.

After developing the survey to determine the most popular procedures, ASAPS became interested in the primary reasons to undergo cosmetic surgery. The results officially proved that women are more narcissistic than men. The majority of men who underwent plastic surgery had the procedure done in order to diminish scars or fix facial problems after an accident, while women stated "unhappiness with appearance" to be their key motivation. Both genders have undergone procedures for liposuction; however, women have it done in order to look appealing in a bathing suit, while men usually do it when they are severely overweight. In surveys, male patients have reported feeling more isolated when it comes to the "plastic surgery grapevine," perhaps accounting for the drastic difference in the number of procedures done on men versus the amount done on women.

Age is also another important difference when it comes to the gender gap in plastic surgery. In one year, men had nearly 1.1 million cosmetic procedures, almost all of those procedures took place on males aged 45 to 55. Women, throughout the same time period, accounted for 7.4 million of the cosmetic procedures, with the number almost evenly split between the ages of 20 and 60. ASAPS