Not just the rich:
…cosmetic surgery is now primarily consumed not by the rich, but by the
working and lower-middle classes, sometimes even by the poor.
According to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS),
about 1/3 of cosmetic surgery is consumed by people who make less than
$30,000 a year. About 70% of it is consumed by people who make less
than $60,000 a year. It is mostly women (90%) and mostly white,
middle-aged women (80% and between 35-55 years old).
Here is a more complete account. In the Reid bill there is a tax on cosmetic surgery. In my view cosmetic surgery is not just a zero-sum game but rather it leads to better matches, more matches, and more people who are happy with their looks or with the looks of their partner(s). It also leads to higher levels of trust. And it's a sector that has, overall, lowered costs over time.
For the pointer I thank Coates Bateman.
I’d like to know the breakdown of procedures: does cosmetic dentistry count? Benign mole removal?
I too would like to see what they classify as cosmetic surgery before drawing any definite conclusions.
Haircuts are cosmetic surgery, right?
Plastic surgery is not just about looking pretty for your partner or feeling good about yourself. In today’s hard times it gives you a competitive edge, and people are desperate for all the competitive edges they can get.
A lot of people are forgetting that a significant portion of people making less than $30,000 are making more than $30,000…
Most strippers, for example, make their money in tips, and don’t claim the tips on their income tax. Fake boobs are essentially a business expense.
I’m always surprised to see the surprise people express that many of the non-wealthy have cosmetic surgery. I’ve been considering rhinoplasty since the mid-1990s for a badly deviated septum which not only impacts my breathing but which is visible to observers. I’ve never pulled the trigger, but I have been to several consultations, and my work in the medical field has given me the opportunity for observation, and even back in those days a large number of patients were simply middle-class folk who had skipped a vacation that year (and maybe the year before) and/or used some of their savings to have work done.
(And, yes, many of them had far less obvious work done than the wealthy, particularly celebrities, seem to. It has always amazed me that Jane Average can have facial work done that leaves her looking like herself 8 or 10 years ago, while world-famous celebrities with access to the best money can buy so frequently come out looking like fish-lipped freaks.)
I don’t imagine the tax was ever intended to target the rich. It is to punish anyone who doesn’t fully subordinate themselves to the narrative that the most “progressive” would like to spin for us, of the coming ideal of a post-physical appearance Utopian society.
I don’t see what is so Utopian about being unable to distinguish beauty, but that is why I’m still a lumpen prole.
Wow. And ThomasL jumps the shark.
On the point at hand – obviously, I take statistics from a trade association with a grain of salt. Most particularly, the implied point is that the tax is regressive, or at least not as progressive as it seems. But to make that point against a sales tax, raw data on who buys surgery isn’t enough – we need data on what percentage of the money spent is by different income classes.
The attached article implies that the numbers in the study are boosted by (comparatively) cheap things that most people wouldn’t consider cosmetic surgery, like the Botox injections you can get at a spa nowadays. And so if the people under 30,000 are buying botox for $300, and people over 80,000 are getting nosejobs for $10,000, the implications disappear in a whiff of smoke.
I think that the elective cosmetic surgery tax finely illustrates the politics of snobbery. If you read the whole article, the author does not question why congress should tax elective surgery in the first case, to fund healthcare. She is unhappy that the people who are making the service available to poor people having cosmetic surgery are left unscathed. She agrees that congress should tax “elective surgery” because she does not approve of it, or well bad for society.
The left likes to bring up our enlightened Europeans neighbours for their very “excellent” universal healthcare. They almost never bring up the specific taxes that are levied on EVERYBODY to have their very “excellent” healthcare system. We are left with looking for unpopular and usually very small demographics to tax, the rich guy over there to pay for my healthcare, tax the stripper with fake boobs to pay for my healthcare, tax the disgusting smoker to pay for my healthcare, after all my right to healthcare is a responsibility for everyone but me to shoulder.
A doctor’s argument against universal health insurance was his claims that women were willing to pay for plastic surgery out of pocket, but not mammograms, pap smears, or flu vaccinations.
But in my view, that conservative point of view that poor people are spending their money incorrectly fails to recognize the unwillingness of conservatives to demand no free life saving health care for people who don’t spend their money wisely, like young adults who go skiing instead of buying health insurance, and end up in the ER getting mandated free health care under EMTALA which was part of legislation signed by Reagan, and not repealed by the Republican majority in the half the time they controlled both houses of Congress.
And he didn’t call for the repeal of EMTALA and replacing it with the “responsible health care act” which would require everyone to have proof of financial responsibility any time they need health care, even in emergencies. The ready availability of free health care from fire fighters, emergency workers, trauma centers, and hospitals creates a moral hazard the convinces people they don’t need to always have health insurance or a large line on credit, certainly in the tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollar range.
And what this conservative doctor opponent of universal mandates refuses to see is the economic necessity for the plastic surgery in order to get that good job with employer health benefits.
And employers who are concerned with the high cost of unemployment insurance should be calling for employment services to include not just resume counseling, job search assistance, and job training, but also cosmetic services including surgery that has been shown to be effective in gaining employment.
And to Crazyfish, I would point out that the US spends pretty close to the same share of GDP in taxpayer dollars for health care as the OECD average for those high tax socialists. If the reason the US health care system cost more than the Europeans was 6% of US GDP is spent on cosmetic surgery so we have full employment and thus no need for the social welfare system of Europe, you might have a point. Unfortunately, if we are spending 6% of US GDP on cosmetic surgery to increase employment, it isn’t working.
And, the proposed tax is sexist too.
Breast augmentation is one of the major standout features of cosmetic surgery.
I still think the report on income levels using cosmetic surgery is screwy, unless you are including very small procedures.
Here is part of a Frost and Sullivan research report on the market:
“From the perspective of the surgical aesthetics market, breast augmentation is the most preferred surgery. This is followed closely by eyelid surgery as well as liposuction.
Declining economic conditions and the credit crunch will have a direct impact on the continued growth of the cosmetic surgery market as is already perceived within the laser surgery area. The high cost of these equipments on one hand makes it quite prohibitive for surgeons to lease this machinery especially as the nature of spending amongst patients is changing considerably. As appearance and the maintenance of it is still a significant factor, patients are opting for cheaper solutions such as hair removal treatment as opposed to a full body cellulite removal option that can prove extremely costly.
From the demographics perspective, cosmetic surgery as a procedure is popular amongst both the youth as well as the aged; however different groups have different preferences within the nip and tuck segment.”
Available at :http://www.frost.com/prod/servlet/market-insight-top.pag?docid=137680054
Tyler, I’d like to see you flesh out your argument for how cosmetic surgery leads to more and better romantic matches. (I’m not going to argue whether it leads to satisfaction with one’s looks or those of the partner undergoing surgery.) Regarding “more”: Do you really think that middle aged women are getting plastic surgery and then finally meeting that special somebody (who can now tolerate their looks)? I’m not saying that never happens, but I have a hard time believing that cosmetic surgery is to thank for all that many new couplings. And as for better matches- in what way are they better? Economically, in that the men gain more beauty-consumer-surplus?
I think people who wanna try plastic surgery should try to ask or now research more about the procedure, much better if you can get info on their past patients.
I think that cosmetic surgery is not of our problems today. Do you know how many customers does a residential drug rehab? People take drugs today… and the number of people doing that… increases every day…
Surgeries are just a part of society now. It’s a world where everyone wants to look younger, what more can I say? It’s HIP.
I think mostly women buy cosmetic surgery if the products they use are not enough to hide imperfections. Although some products are really awesome like microfoliants (google: dermalogica daily microfoliant 75g) they might not work on all ladies or from a certain age. That’s why women end up having cosmetic surgery.
I have recently spoken to a plastic surgeon Houston and let me tell you that nowadays, cosmetic surgery is seen as something completely normal. People want to look good and a plastic surgery can help you with that, but let’s not forget that plastic surgery also helps people that have suffered accidents and have problems with their appearance. So there you have it: everybody can ask for a cosmetic surgery.
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