The Top 10 Cosmetic Surgeries for 2011 - A Prediction

As we get ready to see in the New Year, what will the trends for Cosmetic Surgery be in 2011?

Dr Scott E. Newman, a prominent New York surgeon, thinks he has got the answers, based on recent trends and statistics.

1. Breast Augmentation. This procedure has been the most popular for many years, and shows no signs of fading in popularity. No surprise here! The popularity of this procedure with celebrities should mean its top-place is assured for years to come.
   
2. Augmentation with Fat Transfer. This is increasing in popularity extremely quickly. Great advances are being made with this technique, although at present it is more popular with patients than with surgeons. The idea of Natural Breast Augmentation is immensely appealing to many, and this technique is also used with the Brazilian Butt Lift procedure. I am sure that in time new applications will be found for this technique.
   
3. Liposuction. Liposuction is likely to remain a popular procedure, as the obesity crisis in the West is showing no evidence of slowing down. In fact, in the UK, now 50% of men and women are clinically overweight or obese. With new ways of performing liposuction, such as Vaser Liposuction, constantly being developed, there is no way that liposuction will lose its popularity unless a completely new way of removing fat from the body is introduced.
   
4. Breast Lift Surgery. Women have always obsessed about sagging breasts after childbirth, so this procedure will surely always be popular. New advances with this surgery mean that it is now possible to perform with less scarring, and with longer lasting results.
5. Tummy Tuck. Also known as Abdominoplasty. Again, as with liposuction, the increasing food intake, and progressively more sedentary lifestyles mean that in all probability this will remain a popular procedure.
6. Buttock Lift. The butt lift procedure has really become very fashionable, and many celebrities have admitted to having it done. The Buttock Lift has really come out of nowhere, as only a few short years ago, most people had not even heard of it.
7. Breast Reconstruction. Reconstruction of the breasts following mastectomy will sadly continue to be a necessity for many female patients. New techniques are making the results better aesthetically, and faster to achieve.
8. Arm Lift Surgery. Arm Lift Surgery, or Brachioplasty is becoming more widely known, and can be expected to become more so. This is the cosmetic procedure, whereby excess, sagging skin is removed from the arms, to remove that effect sometimes known as "bingo wings".
9. Gynecomastia Surgery. The removal of male breasts has become a preoccupation with many men, in our increasingly appearance-conscious culture. Expect this to increase over the next 12 months.
10. Breast Reduction. Many women have always suffered from back pain from large breasts, but general increases in the weight-problems do not help. So it's probable that breast reduction surgery will continue to be very popular as a way to solve this problem.

A couple of extra predictions:

Botox will certainly continue to be the number 1 cosmetic procedure. It really has reached such a level of acceptability, and has so many different applications, that this is extremely unlikely to change.

Laser Hair Removal will keep its place as the second most popular non-surgical cosmetic procedure. It is a solution for an age-old problem, and is still far superior to any of the alternatives.

A slow but steady increase in the number of people traveling abroad for cosmetic surgery can be expected, as the idea slowly gains acceptance with the general public.

Here's wishing everyone a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

A Word of Warning About Arranging Surgery with a Referral Service

Cosmetic Surgery Referral Services are becoming increasingly popular, with many prospective patients using these kinds of services to do the "leg-work", from making sure the clinic is reputable and the surgeon is skilled and accredited, to helping to find the best prices for cosmetic surgery.

Doing this does definitely have its benefits, but a few words of caution...

You will still need to make sure that the referral service itself is reputable. There are several agencies that are seemingly unconcerned about the services that the clinics that they refer patients to are of the highest quality. This can understandably lead the patient to go into surgery with a false belief that their clinic is going to be of a high standard, with an accredited and experienced surgeon. Unfortunately, this is not always the case.

The kind of referral service that I would advise all prospective patients to steer well clear of are those which ask for an upfront referral fee. Unfortunately, these are the kinds of agencies that are most heavily-promoted on the internet, as webmasters will get a good commission for placing adverts for these types of services on their websites.

The smart cosmetic surgery patient should avoid paying any upfront fees. It can, in effect, commit you to using the services that the referral company has recommended to you, as the patient is unlikely to want to lose such a large sum of money, with nothing to show for it.

I suspect that is what these kinds of offers are counting on!

If a patient would like to research several of these kinds of companies offerings, then they will have committed to hundreds of dollars-worth of expenditure before the actual cosmetic surgery fees. I'm sure that there are some reputable companies offering this kind of service, but I am equally sure that there are plenty of dodgy ones, as well.

For this reason, I would recommend anyone considering cosmetic surgery to research a little further, before committing to any referral fees.

Also, if you have paid a cosmetic surgery referral fee, but are having doubts about the level of service the company offers, it will be far better for you to back-out, and just lose the money than to risk your health. You may be able to pursue the company through the courts, if it appears that the agency was insufficiently transparent.

For more advice and information like this, visit Cheaper Cosmetic Surgery Abroad.com