Who says grandma can’t have a cinched waist? According to a new report on cosmetic trends from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), liposuction came out on top as America’s most popular cosmetic surgery procedure—but its core audience isn’t what you’d think. Adults aged 66 and up are getting plastic surgery more than ever before. The age group reported a 24% rise in procedure volume, per the report, which turns out to be the largest gain of any age group over the past year.
Is it the Kris Jenner effect? Or is it because Americans are living longer, healthier lives and want to spend their final days looking as hot as possible? I’m assuming it’s the latter, but let’s say the momager really is inspiring older people to go under the knife. It tracks: The number of facelifts performed have increased 13% year over year (just wait until the 2026 report, when we see the impact of Denise Richards’ work). Lift procedures—which are meant to tighten and contour—across areas of the body have also significantly gone up in numbers. These include forehead and brow, upper body, arm and neck, thigh, and breast lifts.
We shouldn’t be surprised. Besides combatting the effects of aging, more patients are seeking out plastic surgery due to their use of GLP-1 medications—rapid weight loss can lead to excess skin and overall discomfort, and 11% of adults are currently taking the drugs to lose weight, per a recent Gallup Poll. Melissa Doft, MD, a board-certified plastic surgeon in New York City, agrees. “More and more patients are taking GLP-1s, particularly perimenopausal and post-menopausal women,” she adds. “This has led to more women feeling better about their bodies and wanting to look their best without any excess skin, resulting in an increase in mastopexies (breast lifts), abdominoplasties, and facelifts.” It’s not just anecdotal, either—we’re seeing this play out directly in doctors’ offices like Doft’s: 82% of ASPS surgeons reported having consultations related to weight loss drugs with their patients last year, although consultations don’t directly correlate to procedure numbers.
Patients are also migrating away from filler as facial fat grafting takes over—it’s seen the largest single-year gain of any procedure with 39% growth from last year, and is often used alongside facelifts. This procedure is when fat is suctioned off of one’s body (or… someone else’s) from areas like the arms, legs, or backside, and injected into the face. If that makes your skin crawl, take it from Faryan Jalalabadi, MD, a board-certified plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills—he previously told Allure that fat is “the most superior volumizing agent that we currently have,” and he thinks it’s safer than other regenerative treatments like salmon sperm DNA, exosomes, and platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF). While this procedure had already been gaining traction, surgeons from ASPS believe it’s become increasingly popular due to (again!) GLP-1 use resulting in a loss of facial volume.
For the fifth consecutive year, liposuction is still the most popular plastic surgery procedure in America. Liposuction is different from lifting procedures—lifts often improve the shape and tone of the targeted area, while lipo removes unwanted or excess fat—although they’re often used in tandem with one another. Americans ages 50 to 64 report the highest usage of GLP-1s, which may also lead to more liposuction procedures, but the continued popularity of the protocol isn’t just because weight loss drugs are on the rise. “Liposuction can be a major part of almost every operation,” Steven Williams, MD, board-certified plastic surgeon in Dublin, California and president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, previously told Allure.
