Brazil Edges the US as the Cosmetic Capital of the World

Brazil has edged out the United States as the cosmetic capital of the world according to official figures released last week.

Almost 1.5 million Brazilians took to the knife in 2013, snatching the dubious title of cosmetic capital of the world from the US. Brazil might have been unceremoniously knocked out of their own World Cup, but Brazilians can give themselves some much needed consolation that they are the world leaders in nips and tucks with 1,491,721 procedures being performed over the course of 2013, a leap of over 60% on previous year’s figures.

Breast augmentation leapfrogged lipo to claim top spot as the most popular procedure performed across the 95 countries included in the survey, conducted by the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (ISAPS). The popular enhancement saw a dramatic increase of almost 50% on previous year’s figures ousting the fat removal favourite from the podium as it dropped to second place in the most frequently performed treatments.

Breast augmentation (1,773,584)

Liposuction (1,614,031)

Blepharoplasty (1,379,263)

Liposculpture (inc lipofilling and stem-enhanced lipofilling) (1,053,890)

Rhinoplasty (954,423)

Germany – The Penis Enlargement Capital Of The World

While Germans may be sat at home smugly clinging on to the World Cup, there are certain areas where the menfolk are slightly less satisfied. Indeed, almost 3,000 penis enlargements took place in Germany in 2013, more than the other countries listed in the top ten combined.

South America – The Cosmetic Continent

South America is home to some of the most cosmetic obsessed nations on earth with Venezuela, Brazil and Columbia leading the charge in procedures per capita people respectively. In terms of procedures Brazil topped was home to the most procedures with only breast augmentation (US) and penis enlargement (Germany) being the only categories where they failed to take the top spot.

A Surge in Surgeon Figures

Each of the 95 countries included in this comprehensive survey experienced an explosion in cosmetic surgeons over the last two years with many of them recording over double the number of active plastic surgeons than in ISAPS’ previous census. Russia reported by far and away the largest increase with the number of practicing surgeons increasing four-fold over two years to a whopping 2,000 dotted across the country.

For more information on the various statistics included in this summary and to download the full survey and take a look at complete data set, please visit the statistics section of the ISAPS website.