Reconstructive Surgery Is Increasingly Aesthetic

Reconstructive surgery is the subset of “plastic” surgery focused on correcting the anatomy, aesthetics, or both, for patients who have been treated for disease or trauma, which sets it apart from purely aesthetic procedures performed for people wishing to improve their appearance above and beyond what they were given by birth (excluding congenital defects) or to reduce the signs of aging.

Reconstructive surgery is the subset of “plastic” surgery focused on correcting the anatomy, aesthetics, or both, for patients who have been treated for disease or trauma, which sets it apart from purely aesthetic procedures performed for people wishing to improve their appearance above and beyond what they were given by birth (excluding congenital defects) or to reduce the signs of aging.

Given the volume of the non-clinically-indicated aesthetic procedures, and their increasingly sophisticated techniques and technologies, reconstructive surgery specialists have integrated aesthetics advances and can now achieve spectacular results that go well beyond the simple reconstructive procedures of the past, which were much less effective in concealing the trace evidence of disease and trauma.

By far, the most common reconstructive procedures are to address the physical appearance resulting from the removal of tumors. In the U.S. alone, reconstruction for tumor removal is performed over 4 million times annually. The remainder of reconstructive procedures covers a gamut of major and minor trauma and diseases.

Below is the distribution of non-aesthetic (only) reconstructive procedures in the U.S.

Source: MedMarket Diligence, LLC; Report #S710.

Through 2018, the global medical reconstructive and aesthetic products market is expected to reach a value of about $10.7 billion. Energy-based products such as lasers will experience the highest growth level. In most geographical regions and particularly in the U.S. and Europe, there is a growing consumer demand for medical cosmetic procedures and through 2020, even the lower income groups are likely to demand for more procedures, as the treatments become increasingly main stream. During the past few years, practitioners in the U.S. were rather forced to implement discounts and now with the revival of the economy, the total fee growth is likely to rebound. Successful companies in the sector mostly rely on a formula for continued research and development, pursuing additional, new business opportunities to increase expertise and product offerings. These companies remain solidly active in the eyes of high-end dermatologists, plastic and cosmetic surgeons.  As the aesthetic market is all about new products, the companies will be left behind, if they do not come up a new product every now and then.

This post is drawn from, “Global Markets for Products and Technologies in Aesthetic and Reconstructive Surgery, 2013-2018″, Report #S710, published by MedMarket Diligence, LLC.  For details, see link/a>.