TRAVELLING FOR COSMETIC SURGERY. ITALY, NINTH COUNTRY IN THE WORLD IN 2015

According to a survey conducted by the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS) – the largest association in the world of aesthetic plastic surgeons – in Italy, one out of 10 patients applying for cosmetic surgery is coming from another country, in particular Russia, Romania and Switzerland. They choose Italy because it is considered a world reference in cosmetic surgery.

Almost half a million of interventions
In 2015, more than 418,760 interventions of cosmetic surgery were performed in Italy, 1.9% of the worldwide total. Among non-invasive interventions, the treatment with botulin toxin is leading, with an increase of 6.5% from 2014, followed by treatment with hyaluronic acid. The most requested invasive surgery is breast implants, up 10.4% from 2014.
These figures place Italy in ninth position as volume of interventions and treatments while on the podium sit the United States (with 18.6% of interventions), followed by Brazil (10.7%) and South Korea (5.3 %).
Cosmetic surgery is strongly growing among men around the world: in 2015 out of 9 million and 600 thousand surgeries, nearly a million and a half (15.3% of the total) concerned men, with blepharoplasty as the most requested intervention. An increase of more than 1.5% compared to 2014.
To facilitate incoming of foreign patients, the Italian Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (AICPE) has signed with ISAPS an “aesthetic alliance” for the development of a quality cosmetic surgery, sensitive to the issue of patient safety.