The average physician fee for the most popular form of minimally invasive cosmetic surgery, injection of botulinum toxin type A, dropped 6.6% from 2008 to 2011, according to data from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.
The average fees for the five most popular minimally invasive surgeries fell in that time period, with microdermabrasion (29.5%) and laser hair removal (21.5%) showing the largest drops. Soft-tissue filler injection had the smallest decrease, 1.1%, the ASPS data show.
There were an estimated 5.7 million botulinum toxin A injections performed in 2011, which was almost half of the 12.2 million minimally invasive procedures performed for the year. The next-most popular procedure was soft-tissue filler injection, which accounted for 1.9 million procedures, the ASPS reported.
Notes: Listed in order of popularity. 2011 estimates are based on data from a national database and survey responses from 1,266 dermatologists, ENTs, and plastic surgeons.
Source: American Society of Plastic Surgeons