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‘What women want’—the UK's largest cosmetic surgery survey

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European Journal of Plastic Surgery Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The cosmetic surgery market is rapidly expanding and changing. This survey is the largest of its kind in the UK and aims to study the motivation and attitudes of UK women towards aesthetic surgery. Five thousand women completed an online cosmetic surgery survey undertaken by an independent polling company. Respondents’ ages ranged from 16 to over 56 years old and they were recruited from all over the UK. A further survey of 57 plastic surgeons was undertaken to establish surgeons' attitudes and practices. Of the patient respondents, 6.5% had already had aesthetic surgery but over 45% would want to undergo a cosmetic operation if funds allowed. Over half of these women would choose either breast or abdominal surgery. Ninety-two percent said the surgeon should provide the initial consultation. Seventy-five percent believed their surgeon should have a recognised qualification or membership of a recognised organisation. Sixty-six percent claimed they would never consider surgery abroad. The UK cosmetic surgery market is large and is likely to continue to grow. Despite the rise of nurse-led cosmetic surgery companies, the public appear to want consultations and surgery to be performed by accredited surgeons. We discuss our findings from this large-scale survey in the context of the changing UK cosmetic surgery market.

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Conflicts of interest

The survey was conducted by OnePoll and funded as part of market research by Aesthetic Advice Consultancy LLP, a not-for-profit marketing and research company, of which the senior author (CN) is a director. There are no conflicts of interest to declare.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Queen Victoria Hospital, Holtye Road, East Grinstead, RH19 3DZ, UK

    Alexandra R. Molina, Richard H. Baker & Charles Nduka

Authors
  1. Alexandra R. Molina
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  2. Richard H. Baker
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  3. Charles Nduka
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alexandra R. Molina.

Glossary

BAAPS

British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons:

The UK association of plastic surgeons with a cosmetic interest. Full (consultant-grade) members of BAAPS must be on the Specialist Register for Plastic Surgery

BAPRAS

British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons:

The UK association of plastic surgeons. Full (consultant-grade) members of BAPRAS must be on the Specialist Register for Plastic Surgery

FRCS (Plast)

Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons in Plastic Surgery:

The rigorous UK plastic surgery training exit examination which allows clinicians to be placed on the Specialist Register for Plastic Surgery

MRCS

Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons:

The first surgical examination undertaken after medical school which does not require any minimum training or any plastic surgery experience

NCEPOD

National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death:

An independent organisation which undertakes clinically led confidential reviews into the quality of care received by medical and surgical patients

NHS

National Health Service:

The government-funded UK health service which means emergency and elective healthcare is free to patients (excluding the vast majority of cosmetic surgery)

Oncoplastic surgeon

A surgeon skilled in dealing with both breast cancer (oncologic surgery) and breast reconstruction (plastic surgery). In the UK, these surgeons can be trained via the path of general/breast surgery or plastic surgery

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Molina, A.R., Baker, R.H. & Nduka, C. ‘What women want’—the UK's largest cosmetic surgery survey. Eur J Plast Surg 35, 607–612 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00238-011-0635-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00238-011-0635-5

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