Credit-crunched Americans ‘shelling out for surgery’

People in the US may be experiencing harsh petrol increases and rising food prices but they are still willing to pay for cosmetic surgery.

At least that is the findings of a study by the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery which revealed that 63 per cent of surgeons are seeing a constant stream of patients.

Nearly a third (32 per cent) claimed to have actually seen an increase of up to 30 per cent in the past few months, reported news source KBCD.

Speaking to the news channel, cosmetic eye surgeon Daniel Townsend attributed the constant business to the fact that men and women want to look "refreshed" for interviews.

"They would like to look age appropriate so that they can compete for those jobs that they want to have," he explained.

Dermatologist Mathew Avram agreed and claimed that he has seen a 20 per cent increase in business this year as the economy has slumped.

Patients are often keen on having cosmetic surgery while they search for new jobs because they have time to recover.

In the UK, British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons’ figures show that breast augmentation was the most popular cosmetic surgery procedure last year, followed by blepharoplasty (eyelid surgery) and liposuction.