February 20, 2013
Jason Pozner, MD
Boca Raton, FL
Patients want no downtime and no pain.
Botox, and dermal filler injections are the most popular cosmetic treatments in the United States for the third consecutive year, according to recent statistics by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). 14.6 million procedures were performed in 2012, that’s a 5 percent increase from last year.
Patients are very clear as to what they want; patients want no downtime and no pain. The president of ASPS, Gregory Evans, recently said that cosmetic surgery continues to be driven by a significant rise in minimally invasive procedures.
Plastic surgeons are taking note of consumer demand in the non-surgical arena. The Plastic Surgery Channel interviewed board certified plastic surgeons from all over the country to find out the top 3 non-surgical procedures they’re seeing in their office on a daily basis. It was no surprise their answers fell in line with the national statistics recently released from ASPS.
- Neurotoxins – Botox® and Dysport® for frown lines saw an increase of 8%
- Dermal fillers – Juvederm®, Perlane®, and Restylane® to treat creases and hollowed areas on the face are up 5%
- Intense Pulse Light Therapy – for sun damage and hair removal is up 10% from last year
Dr. Lou Bucky, a fellow plastic surgeon of Philadelphia, agrees that injectables, used at the right time of a patient’s life, can significantly reduce the aging process. Both myself and Dr. Bucky have expanded the non-surgical side of our practices to include highly trained nurse injectors, and aestheticians. The new trend in plastic surgery practices is to offer more to the patient at every level of the aging process.
Dr. Bucky has invested in the non-surgical portion of his practice by training his nurse injectors to be comparable to the best in the field. His nurse injectors deliver dermal fillers and Botox exceedingly well. He mentioned about their training, “I knew if that was their major focus, they could do it as well as I could, perhaps even better.”
At the present time I don’t see non-surgical procedures replacing surgical procedures; there’s still a place for surgical procedures. For example, there comes a time when Botox and fillers have done as much as they can do and a patient may need to look into a traditional face lift. However, in the somewhat not too distant future, I can see us replacing some plastic surgery procedures.
I think it will be like a pyramid. Patients are going to have their non-invasives first because the recovery is less, it’s easy to do and achieves success in the short term. Later, when patients need something more effective, they will move up that pyramid and have a surgical procedure.