The Price of Beauty

by Tara Pingle

Plastic surgery has always had a stigmatic association with upper-class wealth and excess. We typically see and read about rich women and celebrities with easy lives making changes to their already gorgeous bodies, but rarely ever hear of a normal woman having cosmetic surgery. Many women today secretly desire a better physique, but few consider plastic surgery a realistic option because they assume the procedures are too expensive for them to afford. Let’s take a look at the most recent cost statistics from the American Society of Plastic Surgery (ASPS)*.On the short list of the most popular surgical cosmetic procedures for women in 2005 were breast augmentation, breast lifts, liposuction, eyelid lifts (blepharoplasty), tummy tuck (abdominoplasty), nose-reshaping (rhinoplasty) and facelifts and these are the average surgeons’ fees:·Breast augmentation - $3,406·Breast lift - $3,573·Liposuction - $2,323·Eyelid lift - $2,534·Tummy tuck - $4,402·Nose-reshaping - $3,511·Facelift - $4,484Note that they are only the average plastic surgeon’s fees and as with liposuction, only include one area of surgery. If you have liposuction on multiple areas of your body, the costs will increase. Other fees may, but not necessarily, include anesthesia, facility or surgical center fees and nursing fees. If the doctor owns his own surgical center, you may get a break on the facility fee as he probably will probably charge you less than if he also had to pay a hospital facility fee out of his pocket. Also, if he brings his own staff to a hospital, rather than using hospital staff, he can save a few dollars there as well. Anesthesia can range from a small amount to a rather large amount, depending on the type of anesthesia you require and the length of time you require it. On average, facility fees range from $600-$900 an hour and anesthesia ranges from $250-$300 an hour.The good news is that most plastic surgeons accept financing through third-party financing companies that specialize in plastic surgery funding. Some of the most widely-used companies are Unicorn Financing, Medicard, Cosmetic Fee Plan, PFS Patient Finance and HealthOne. Most of these institutions offer low or no money down and/or 0 financing for periods up to twenty-four months. Other options for funding your plastic surgery procedure include a loan from your local bank or credit union, using a flexible medical spending account through your employer or even using a credit card if the interest rate is low enough and the rewards high enough to justify it. This article is provided by The Cosmetic Surgery Directory. For information about any cosmetic surgery procedure or to find a cosmetic surgeon near you, please visit, The Cosmetic Surgery Directory.*Statistics quoted are all from 2005, the most recent statistics available from the ASPS.

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