Breast Implants Increasingly Popular with Average Women
Breast Implants Increasingly Popular with Average Women
December 21, 2006 -
New studies and surveys show that breast augmentation is becoming increasingly popular, but not just with strippers and movie stars.
Plastic surgeons are noticing that the typical person who gets breast implants today is not an exotic dancer or a model. It’s the average woman next door.
The number of women in the United States who augmented their breasts went up 37% from the year 2000 to 2005, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.
The procedure is expected by many to become even more popular now that the FDA has lifted the ban on silicone gel breast implants, which most people consider more realistic than saline implants.
In 1998, 231,378 women had breast augmentation surgery. In 2005, more than twice as many women did, according to the Plastic Surgeon’s Society
A survey in 2003 asked women who were researching breast implants about their age, marital status, education, and income. There were 3,500 respondents who had breast implants and 1,625 who were considering them. The average age of all respondents was 34. Nearly half of them had a bachelor’s degree, and three-quarters were either married or in a long-term relationship.
Nearly three-quarters of the women who responded reported a yearly income of $50,000 or more, which is not surprising, considering the procedure typically, costs upward of $4,000.
Why the shift?
A University of Pennsylvania psychologist who studies attitudes toward plastic surgery, David Sarwer, said that improved surgical techniques, shorter recovery time, implant manufacturer advertising, cosmetic surgery-related reality television shows, and celebrity culture as seen in the media are likely to have played a role in the shift of the typical breast augmentation patient from the stripper to the soccer mom.
“We’re bombarded by this ideal of beauty more so than any other time in history,” Sarwer said. “That kind of relentless bombardment takes a toll, because inevitably we compare ourselves to these ideals.”
Today, in the eyes of the public, to be beautiful means to be a thin actress with large breasts, Sarwar said.
Considering breast augmentation? Please contact us today for a free consultation with an experienced board-certified plastic surgeon in your area.
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