If you're thinking about getting a little nip and tuck, you're not alone when it comes to the number of New Jerseyans going under the knife for cosmetic surgery.

Fashion model with beauty long straight hair (Valua Vitaly, ThinkStock)
Valua Vitaly, ThinkStock
loading...

Breast augmentation, liposuction and nose jobs are the top procedures in New Jersey, according to Dr. Ash Bhattacharya, president of the New Jersey Society of Plastic Surgeons.

"In terms of non-surgical things, the biggest things we see, especially in the last few years, are the botox and the analogs, and fillers of the face," said Bhattacharya. BOTOX is the trade name for the allergan product, but there are several other competitors that have modified the basic botulinum toxin, such as Dysport and Xeomin, that work just as effectively as the original BOTOX, Bhattacharya added.

Breast augmentation procedures have gone down by about 2 to 5 percent since 2005, while liposuction has increased by about the same amount, according to Bhattacharya.

"I think it's because most of the women who needed breast augmentation are getting them done, so the number of women available to get breast augmentation is going down I think," Bhattacharya said.

Office-based liposuction seems to be on the rise, with improvements to the procedure that do away with the need for anesthesia, he said.

"The biggest thing I've seen change, especially in New Jersey, is the advent and the acceptance of people getting things done under anesthesia," Bhattacharya said.

He said that in the old early of breast augmentation, a patient would wake up in a lot of pain, and with a lot of nausea and vomiting during post-recovery.

"Nowadays we have much more effective blocks that the anesthesiologist can provide us, and a lot better surgical technique with the implant and the way we put the implants in," he said. He added the typical recovery is five days or less — without that severe pain..

The majority of breast augmentation is for implants, but Bhattacharya noted some people are opting for augmentation via fat grafting, a newer trend.

Most procedures done on the face, especially for sagging skin — eyelid tucks, face lifts and neck lifts — have gone down in numbers, according to Bhattacharya.

He said doctors are getting "such a fantastic result with using the non-surgical approaches to" making faces look younger, such as BOTOX and facial fillers, "so that the need for a dramatic face lift is really reduced."

The facelifts that are done "are much more limited in terms of the incision that we have to do, and in terms of recovery," Bhattacharya said.

An elective cosmetic procedure that has jumped in popularity in recent years is butt augmentation — and Bhattacharya attributes the increase to people wanting booties like celebrity Kim Kardashian.

"We didn't do a lot of procedures on the buttock in the past, but that has seen a huge, huge increase in the last, I would say, two or three years," Bhattacharya said. "In terms of percentages, it's about a 30 percent increase over time from the past.

"For example, butt augmentation with fat grafting has gone up about 30 percent from 2014 to now. Butt implants, which hardly anybody did, has gone up almost 40 percent over the same time, and butt lifts, which are surgical lifts like we do on the face, have gone up as well, about 40 percent."

What's considered beautiful or attractive changes over time — and that's certainly happened to views on the backside.

"The very voluptuous Botticelli kind of figure is coming to vogue again. That was very popular I'd say about 40 years ago," Bhattacharya said. He added that particular look tends to be regional and more trendy in places like California and Texas.

"It's much more an influence to have a large body, a large butt, large breasts, and very tight figure," Bhattacharya said.

Another trend Bhattacharya said he has noticed is that younger women are opting to get small amounts of non-surgical prodcedures to maintain their youthfulness over time, while women in their late 30s and into their 50s are regularly getting fillers, injections for the forehead, and laser treatments to keep their skin fresh.

"And I find that the women today who are coming in the age bracket in their 50s to 60s are looking much younger, much more vibrant, and have a much better quality of life than the equal age about a generation ago," Bhattacharya said. "They're definitely looking younger, more fit, more conscious of themselves, in terms of how they look and how they feel."

Nationally, in 2015, about 279,000 breast augmentations were done. There were 222,000 liposuction procedures in offices and operating rooms, and about 200,000 nose jobs, according to Bhattacharya.

In New Jersey, Bhattacharya said, while breast augmentation and rhinoplasty surgery have remained about stable, non-surgical treatments, such as botox and fillers, have doubled over the last 10 years.

For those considering cosmetic procedures, Bhattacharya suggested finding a plastic surgeon you can trust and sticking with that person.

More From WPG Talk Radio 95.5 FM