It’s hard to classify trends when it comes to body parts, but we’ve routinely seen mass shifts in aesthetic goals year after year. For the past few years, we’ve seen a trend shift towards smaller breasts, with an 18 percent decrease in breast augmentations and a five percent uptick in implant removal from 2019 to 2022, according to Procedural Statistics Aesthetic Plastic Surgery National Databank Statistics for 2022. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons also reported a 54 percent increase in breast-reduction procedures between 2021 and 2022. Experts predict this trend will continue into the new year.
“You can’t classify everybody—there are some who want very full implants because they’ve been looking a lot on social media, but that’s the end of this bow-shaped curve,” says La Jolla, CA plastic surgeon Robert Singer, MD. “Most who come in would like to look natural.” We shared expert insights below, but the bottom line seems to be “small and perkier is in and large and voluptuous is out,” says Encino, CA plastic surgeon George Sanders, MD.
Featured experts
- Robert Singer, MD is a board-certified plastic surgeon in La Jolla, CA
- George Sanders, MD is a board-certified plastic surgeon in Encino, CA
- Mark Jewell, MD is a board-certified plastic surgeon in Eugene, OR
The influence of semaglutides
“I think the largest trend will be the impact of GLP-1 drugs,” says Eugene, OR plastic surgeon Mark Jewell, MD. Experts predict the uptick in weight loss drugs will have a notable impact on the kind of breast procedures that will trend in the coming year. “We’re seeing more patients come in who’ve lost volume because of semaglutides, and they’re looking for smaller implants and a lift or a lift alone,” says Dr. Singer.
Smaller implants
Whether related to weight loss or not, smaller implants seem to have taken over. “Over the past several years, there has been a trend toward smaller implants in both breast augmentation procedures as well as revision procedures,” says Dr. Sanders.
Breast reductions
Dr. Singer says he’s noticed more people looking for breast reductions as there’s been an increase in patients who are exercising more and find themselves feeling uncomfortable with their larger breasts.
Implant removal
Dr. Sanders says more and more women have been “opting to have their implants removed as they enter into their 50’s and 60’s.” He notes this is “often because they’ve gained a bit of weight in the chest area with menopause, producing a larger look than they would desire.”
