And the quest for beauty continues
Paris: In the never-ending quest for youthful, magazine-cover looks,
8.6bil (RM41.75bil) were spent last year on materials and chemicals used in cosmetic procedures worldwide, the IMCAS industry body said.
This meant plastic surgeons and beauty practitioners spent about the equivalent of Costa Rica’s total annual exports on the tools of their trade.
The data revealed “a strong dynamism for this sector in a difficult economic environment for several geographical areas”, said a report released at the IMCAS beauty industry conference in Paris.
Spending on equipment and products used to nip, tuck, lift, and tighten grew more than 8% from 2016, it showed.
The market should reach 9.3bil (RM45.1bil) in 2018, and is likely to more than double in the seven-year period from 2014 to 2021.
The report tracked sales of equipment such as lasers for “body contouring” or hair removal, pharmaceutical compounds, “active” cosmetics, fat-sucking devices, muscle-freezing toxins such as botox, wrinkle “fillers”, and breast implants.
Impressive as they may seem, the amounts surgeons spend on these items is but a drop in the ocean of what clients fork out for beauty procedures.
According to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS), Americans alone spent more than US$15bil (RM58.5bil) on beauty procedures in 2016, an 11% rise from the previous year.
In a statement, ASAPS president Daniel Mills credited a healthier economy, technological innovations, and “a desire on the part of baby-boomers and their offspring to remain competitive in a youth-centric workforce”.
Procedures to shift undesirable fat from areas such as the buttocks or belly to perk up breasts or plump up checks were among the most popular in America, the data showed.
The top five countries – the United States, Brazil, Japan, Italy, and Mexico – accounted for 41.4% of the world’s cosmetic procedures, the ISAPS report said.
Breast augmentation remained the most popular surgical procedure in 2016, accounting for 15.8% of all beauty operations, followed by liposuction with 14%, eyelid surgery with 12.9%, and nose jobs with 7.6%.
Penis enlargement was the least popular cosmetic procedure and the category with the biggest drop – 28%. — AFP