Breast Implant Statistics and Demographics

In 1998, 1,045,815 cosmetic surgeries were performed by plastic surgeons. Of this total, 946,784 cosmetic procedures were performed on women. Of these surgeries, 132,378 involved breast augmentation. This figure is second only to liposuction (152,290), which continues to be the most popular cosmetic procedure among women. The amount of breast augmentations in the United States has increased by 353% since 1992 despite public concern regarding the safety of breast implants.

1998 Breast Surgery Statistics Cosmetic and Reconstructive Surgery
Procedure Name	Totals	18 or less	19 - 34	35 - 50	51 - 64	65+
Breast Augmentation	132,378	1%	60%	35%	3%	1%
Breast Reconstruction	69,683	< 1%	6%	49%	36%	8%
Breast Reduction	70,358	4%	40%	39%	13%	4%
Breast Implant Removals Augmentation patients	43,681
Breast Implant Removals Reconstruction patients	11,419

Since 1962, two million women in the United States have had their breasts enlarged.

Approximately 8.08% of women in the United States have breast implants:
94.6% are white women
4.2% are black women
0.8% are asian women
0.8% women of other races/ethnicities

One out of seven women in 1998 augmented her breasts in California. One out of ten chose a surgeon in Florida and one out of twenty-one went to a New Yorker.

Younger women are more likely to get breast implant for cosmetic reasons. Older women are more likely to get implants for medical reasons.

Breast implants (especially for cosmetic reasons) are most popular in the southern and western regions of the United States.

Satisfaction surveys reveal that 80 - 90% of women that have breast implants are content with the achieved results.

Women that belong to higher socioeconomic classes are more likely to have breast implants than women with a lower socioeconomic status.

The average cost of a breast implant procedure is $3,077. The cost of a breast lift is $3,426. The average fee that plastic surgeons charged for a breast reconstruction (implant alone) was $2,971 for 1998.

Surgeons charged men who desired to have their breasts reduced, $2,786. This amount is half the cost surgeons required of women.

Breast implant removal since 1992 has increased 76%. Ninety-six percent of these patients had their implants removed due to physical symptoms such as capsular contracture or rupturing of the implant. The remainder of these patients had the implants removed as a precautionary measure to avoid complications in the future.

From 1985 until September 10, 1998, FDA received 127,500 adverse reaction reports for silicone gel-filled implants. During that same period, there have been 49,661 adverse reaction reports for saline-filled implants.

As of September 10, 1998, the FDA received 118 reports of deaths allegedly related to breast implants.

Reference: www.plasticsurgery.org

Back to: