Wall Street Ogles Breast Augmentation as New Market Indicator

Plastic surgery bounced back in 2010 and that could be good news for the economy and maybe even for the stock market. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons said that last year, 13.1 million cosmetic plastic surgery procedures were performed in the United States, up 5 percent from 2009.

Analysts have long opined that such superficial indicators--like hemlines--can provide investors with clues about the economy and even market direction. Given the rise of plastic surgery, it was only a matter of time before experts would extrapolate plastic surgery volume as means to measure how we're doing. Thus, the "Plastic Surgery Indicator" was born.

When I told my friend Dan this news, he replied, "DUH!"

Of course it stands to reason that when people earn more money, they are more likely to spend money on non-essential cosmetic surgery procedures. That's why the Great Recession took a toll on even the fanciest of these specialists. But my plastic surgeon friend noted that one part of her practice did quite well during the recession: the eye-jobs. That makes sense too, because older employees are willing to spend money on the procedures that keep them competitive in the market.

For you number-crunchers out there, the "Plastic Surgery Indicator" has statistical proof. In a 2009 paper, eight surgeons from the famed Cleveland Clinic published a paper (Cosmetic Surgery Volume and Its Correlation With the Major US Stock Market Indices) that studied the volume of four cosmetic surgery procedures (forehead lift, face lift, breast augmentation and liposuction) and found that lifts, liposuction and breast augmentation all "demonstrate a direct (positive) statistical correlation to all three stock market indices-NASDAQ, S&P 500, Dow-Jones".

Of all of the procedures, it looks like Botox claims the mantle of most positively correlated with large US stock indexes in 2010:

• Botox: +12%
• DJIA: +11%
• S&P 500: 13%

As plastic surgeon Dr. Kaveh Alizadeh, president of Long Island Plastic Surgery Group noted, ""This dramatic return cosmetic plastic surgery reflects the rise in consumer confidence that we've seen throughout most of 2010...Feeling good - and looking good - is in style once again." And so is a rising stock market.

2010 top five surgical procedures:

1. Breast augmentation (296,000)
2. Nose reshaping (252,000)
3. Eyelid surgery (209,000)
4. Liposuction (203,000)
5. Tummy tuck (116,000)

1. Botulinum toxin type A (5.4 million)
2. Soft tissue fillers (1.8 million)
3. Chemical peel (1.1 million)
4. Laser hair removal (938,000)
5. Microdermabrasion (825,000)