Of this total, nine of the injuries and all the deaths were related to plastic or cosmetic procedures. The state is holding hearings during this period to consider how to institute regulations to better insure patient safety. The procedures can still be done in a hospital or outpatient surgery center during the moratorium. Perhaps no medical discipline, especially in recent years, has undergone the economic boon that plastic surgery has. According to an American Society of Plastic Surgeons report published in 1999, the number of people who had cosmetic surgery procedures tripled since 1992.
Liposuction alone leads the pack with a nearly fivefold increase.
This growth is due to many factors, especially a baby boom generation realizing while growing old is inevitable, looking old isn't. Physicians, some experts suggest, have latched onto this huge clamor for reclaimed youth by offering cosmetic procedures that bolster the lagging economics of their practices brought about by the long arm of managed care. And some of them may not be qualified to do the procedures, and their offices may not meet the standard criteria for doing these operations. Many critics claim this industry has far too many mishaps and deaths for procedures usually undertaken by healthy people in their prime. Part of the problem may lie with a lack of regulation, but it also may rest with those who flock to the medical fountain of youth, not realizing that they are volunteering for major surgery.