London, Feb 13 (IANS) Data from the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) shows the number of cosmetic surgeries conducted last year fell to 40 per cent -- a near-decade low in the UK from a record-breaking high in 2015, the media reported on Monday.
Fashion and entertainment commentators have said the growing influence of a wave of social media celebrities could be behind the slump in demand, the Guardian reported.
For the first time in almost 10 years of relatively consistent growth, the number of cosmetic surgical procedures for women and men combined dipped below 31,000 -- with 2016's number 5 per cent fewer than in 2007. the BAAPS said.
In a fall of 39.9 per cent from 2015, 30,750 procedures were carried out on men and women last year -- 28,341 procedures on women, down 39.1 per cent; and 2,409 on men, a fall of 47.8 per cent.
"The rise in Botox, teeth whitening, tanning, contouring etc also means there are a lot more options than having to go under the knife," said Nadia Mendoza, an entertainment journalist and co-founder of the Self-Esteem Team -- an organisation that conducts workshops in schools and colleges on mental health, body image and exam stress.
However, Mendoza said the statistics were not necessarily cause for celebration.
"Plastic surgery is still openly celebrated among the rich and famous... So I would be cautious that this decline isn't subject to change as young people currently under 18 could still be hoping for surgery when they are of age," she said.
BAAPS said that, anecdotally, the number of non-surgical treatments such as facial injectables was still rising steadily.
The top surgical procedure for women was breast enlargement, which accounted for 7,732 operations -- down 20 per cent from the previous year. Top for men was rhinoplasty, commonly known as a nose job, accounting for 529, down 35 per cent from 2015.
The biggest fall was in the number of brow-lifts, down 71 per cent. The number of men having abdominoplasty -- or a tummy tuck -- was up 47 per cent with 172 procedures carried out, the data showed.