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Plastic surgery pricing does not coincide with supply-and-demand

A correlation exists between cosmetic surgery pricing and local economic factors, researchers found; however, the pricing cannot be completely explained by supply-and-demand model.

The average prices of breast augmentation, mastopexy, abdominoplasty, blepharoplasty and rhytidectomy were recorded from ten plastic surgery practices randomly selected from 15 U.S. cities of various populations.

The average price of cosmetic surgery procedures were significantly correlated with population size, cost-of-living index, cost to own real estate and cost to rent across the 15 cities.

Pricing correlated weakly with household income and per capita income.

Researchers found virtually no correlations between pricing and the density of plastic surgeons or the average age of residents.

The researchers concluded that cost of living, real estate values and population size are more influential in plastic surgery pricing, rather than supply and demand. – by Abigail Sutton

Disclosure: The researchers reported no relevant financial disclosures.