Lifts on the rise among plastic surgery procedures!

By Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz, Tribune NewspapersBreast augmentation may be as popular as ever, but what really has heads turning at the plastic surgeon’soffice is the surge in lifts: upper arm lifts, lower body lifts, butt lifts, breast lifts — some of these procedures have experienced growth of nearly 600 percent in the last decade, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, which recently released its 2011 statistics.

A rise in bariatric surgeries, which reduce the size of an obese person’s stomach, is driving many people who have lost significant weight to seek lifts to get rid of loose-hanging skin, said society President Dr. Malcolm Roth, who also is the chief of the division of plastic surgery at Albany Medical Center in New York.

The rise in lifts contrasts with dips in other more traditional cosmetic surgery procedures, including liposuction, which dropped with the economy — though 2011 suggested a rebound, Roth said. Cosmetic surgeries were up 5 percent over 2010.

Minimally invasive surgeries, such as Botox and fillers, have been booming throughout the decade, perhaps in part because of the down economy, Roth said, because they’re more affordable and don’t require as much time off from work. Technological advances, meanwhile, have boosted the success and interest in laser treatments.