Tummy fat paunches above its weight in plastic surgery procedures

Increasingly Americans are using fat from their stomachs to sculpt their faces‚ breasts and buttocks‚ new plastic surgery statistics reveal.

In the US about 17-million surgical and minimally invasive cosmetic procedures were performed last year‚ according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons’ annual report released on Wednesday.

The statistics show a 3% growth in cosmetic procedures‚ including a rise in facelifts and a new trend to rejuvenate private zones like labias.

Facelifts made a comeback into the top five most popular cosmetic surgical procedures in 2016‚ the data shows. Three of the top five procedures – in descending order – were breast augmentation‚ liposuction‚ nose reshaping‚ eyelid surgery and facelifts – focused on the face.

Society president Debra Johnson said: "One trend we are seeing with fat involves an increase in fat grafting procedures. Plastic surgeons harvest a patient's unwanted fat from their abdomen using liposuction and then inject it to lift and rejuvenate other areas such as the face‚ buttock and even the breast.”

The most popular minimally-invasive procedures were‚ in descending order: botox‚ soft tissue fillers‚ chemical peels‚ laser hair removal and microdermabrasion.

The society also began tracking labiaplasty (rejuvenating the labia by lifting and/or injecting fat or filler into the area) in 2015 and the latest stats show these procedures increased by 39% in that year with more than 12 000 procedures.

Johnson said patients were developing an ongoing relationship with their plastic surgeons and felt increasingly “comfortable discussing all areas of their body that they may be interested in rejuvenating".