According to a 2023 survey reported by the National Institute of Health, 34.9 million surgical and nonsurgical "aesthetic procedures" were performed by plastic surgeons worldwide. The cosmetic surgery and procedure global market garnered an estimated $127.1 billion that year.
The top five surgical procedures were liposuction, breast augmentation (implants, removals, and reductions), eyelid surgery (the top procedure in most of Asia), tummy tucks, and nose jobs. The five most popular nonsurgical procedures were botox, hyaluronic acid fillers, hair removal, chemical peels, and nonsurgical fat reduction.
But are all of these procedures safe? Are there any procedures doctors don't or won't recommend?
Reddit user Topgunner85 asked:
"Plastic surgeons of Reddit, what body altering surgery would you never get and why?"
Iris Depigmentation Laser Surgery
"Iris depigmentation laser surgery to change the eye color. The risks of blindness or complications are quite high. And it looks awful."
~ psychocamper
"I work with ophthalmologists (this would be oculoplastics) and ALL of them pretty much say the same thing. The procedure is dumb and 9/10 causes blindness due to induced glaucoma from the pigment."
~ letsxxdiscooo
Brazilian Butt Lift
"Brazilian butt lift (BBL) is the only aesthetic surgical procedure that has its own autopsy technique."
~ Littman-Express
"It has a 1 out of 2,351 mortality rate. Sounds low until you consider liposuction mortality rate is 1 out of 50,000 and breast augmentation is 1 out of 250,000."
~ innuendo-inyourendo
"My cousin almost got a BBL last year. The clinic told her she wouldn’t be able to sit for weeks, and that fat could literally enter her bloodstream and kill her if it moved."
"She canceled everything that same day. It’s wild how normalized such a risky surgery has become."
~ Immediate_Wrap_5715
Buccal Fat Removal
"Buccal fat removal—makes you look like a skeleton when you age and the rest of your fat goes."
~ patpadelle
*Buccal fat removal—or cheek reduction surgery or buccal lipectomy—removes the buccal fat pads located in the cheeks to create a more sculpted and defined facial appearance.
Penile Implant
"My husband is an ICU nurse and sees men with penile implant infections all the time."
"He says the guys (and their SO’s) regret them in later years since they’re in and out of the hospital constantly."
~ HappyBirthdayYall
Nonsurgical Rhinoplasty
"I would never get a 'nonsurgical' or 'liquid' rhinoplasty. Most of the time that’s just filler injected into the nose."
"There is a risk of filler in this location causing you to go blind."
"In general I would never get any facial fillers. They tend to look worse over time and migrate."
~ boyyousaidit
Thread Lifts
"Beverly Hills plastic surgeon awake and present. I would say thread lifts."
~ spatelaesthetics
"As an injector, I HATE consulting for thread lifts, & was so glad when our medical director said we weren’t offering them anymore."
"Most of the clients wanting threads just need to get a facelift."
~ rachmd
*Thread lifts lift and tighten the skin around the eyes.
Fox Eyes
"All those fox eyes/brow lifts—it's a trend that will disappear within a few years."
~ patpadelle
*Fox eye surgery—or canthopexy—lifts the outer corners of the eyes to create a more almond-shape.
Rib Removal
"Rib removal. Corsets are hot, but not risk-your-life hot."
~ PrivilegeCheckmate
"Wait, what‽‽ People are actually getting rib removal surgery? Society is so f*cked."
~ canadanimal
Hunter Eyes
"I recently saw a post about 'hunter eye' surgery that had gone wrong and looked terrible. Basically it’s trending with incel types that 'alpha men' should have smaller eyes that slant upwards so they look like hunters and not prey."
"So they’re getting this surgery to alter the slant of their eyes to get smaller eyes. It’s exactly as horrific as it sounds and there are some incredibly questionable results from it."
"Some of them looked okay after, but it’s a crazy reason to let someone slice through the conjunctiva, slice through the outer corner of the eye, and remove a portion of eye socket (either side and/or underneath the eye) from around the eye."
~ binglybleep
"Nothing says alpha male confidence like elective cosmetic surgery."
~ gingasaurusrexx
*Hunter eyes surgery—or canthoplasty—is aimed at achieving a more compact and alert-looking eye shape.
Limb Lengthening Surgery
"Elective limb lengthening surgery. Permanently disabled to be a few inches taller? No thanks."
~ nimisberries
"I know someone who did this and called it 'the best thing I’ve ever done'. He was like 5’1" prior, but I just ran into him yesterday and noticed he was walking with a cane… he’s maybe 40."
~ rsc99
"Outside of the things like buccal fat removal, a lot of people don’t seem to realize that most plastic surgeries started for people who had disfigurements/injuries that they needed fixed to improve their quality of life."
~ Rage_Like_Nic_Cage
LASIK
"Sister is an opthalmic surgeon, and her take on LASIK is terrifying."
~ NorahGretz
"My mom had it done years ago, and I'd always thought of it as a conceptually scary but risk-free procedure."
"I didn't learn about any of the potential complications until a few years ago... When I was saving up for it. I'm a graphic artist. Glasses it is."
~ ozifrage
"As someone who has assessed disability claims, reading the claims for this is what stopped me from having it done."
"Great if it is done perfectly, but the tiniest mistake can be life-changing for the person who had it done."
~ NoNamesLeft4MeToo
Facial Fillers
"Filler to midface/nose (but also outside of the face because there is no good indication to use it elsewhere)."
"For midface/nose, the potential risk for blindness/distal tissue ischemia is low if you're doing it once, but if you have to do it every 3-6 months, I think it becomes unacceptably high for something that gives the desired effect only temporarily."
"Filler also tends to actually remain in the body much longer than people expect (life) it just moves away from where you put it, potentially drastically changing your facial appearance."
~ patpadelle
Who, Not What
"Plastic surgeon here, want to point something out that no one is addressing. Yes, there is a space for discussing procedures as being awful, but what’s more important is WHO is doing the surgery."
"The aesthetics community is riddled with non-plastic surgeons doing procedures beyond their scope of practice. Oral surgeon doing BBL’s? Dermatologists doing breast implants?"
"Unqualified/uncertified people doing invasive facial injection procedures? That’s just skimming the top of what is going on in my city."
"BBL’s can be done safely with the right training and care for patient safety. It’s simple, just don’t go deep. The majority of the fatality data for BBL’s are non-plastic surgeon doctors or even nurses doing this sh*t the wrong way."
"What looks easy really isn’t. Like people who think they can completely remodel their homes after watching a few TikTok videos. The lure of cash pay business is too strong for people to stay in their lanes."
"I’m not a BBL fan, but I do it because, for some people, it’s what turns their self-image and confidence around (or they actually have a tiny @ss) and changes their lives."
"I’ve seen countless people get 'filler' injections at motels. Or butt injections. People are permanently disfigured. What would it take for you to go to a seedy motel to have someone you talked to on WhatsApp or Telegram stick large needles repeatedly in your butt?"
"The onus is on legislators and plastic surgeons to regulate the industry. But all this sh*t wouldn’t happen without demand."
"The issue is not 'what procedure' but more of a 'who tf is cutting you open' issue."
~ cowboydoctor
Don't Do It
"My husband works for a well-known doctor in Miami. My husband says MOST surgeries are not needed, and they do a lot of surgeries just fixing previous surgeries that weren’t done right."
"My husband REFUSES for me to ever get surgery—not that I want surgery, but I get the sentiment—too risky. He’s worked at what is called ‘chop shops’ here and there many years ago and says those are crazy, tons of patients and many of them BBLs. Super dangerous!"
"He won’t work there anymore because he doesn’t want to be associated with them."
"The doctor he works for is a good, safe doctor, but there’s always risks involved and they spend a lot of time 'managing expectations' because things will never be perfect."
~ Silver_Marsupial_708
Not Medically Necessary
"I would basically not get anything done unless it’s medically necessary or going to significantly improve my quality of life after exhausting all other options (like to relieve pain, make breathing easier, etc...)."
~ AfternoonPossible
What procedures would you add to this list?
@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social
