How Many Women Have Breast Implants?

How many women have breast implants? The answer being an estimated 8,000 women a year in the United Kingdom, as reported by the NHS in 2010, making it the most common cosmetic procedure performed on women – Source Breast implants are prosthetic (artificial) implants and the two most commonly used for procedures in the UK are silicone gel implants and saline (sterile salt water) implants.

Breast implant procedures are carried out for two reasons: reconstructive purposes and cosmetic. The former is available to women who, after being diagnosed with breast cancer, the most common cancer in the United Kingdom, undergo a mastectomy, the surgical removal of the entire breast. Mastectomies are also available to those women who are at high risk of developing breast cancer by removing non-cancerous breasts.

In 2009-2010, nearly 18,000 mastectomies were carried out in England – Source. Breast implant surgery is also performed for cosmetic reasons to enhance the shape and size of the breast. According to a journal article published by the Institute of Medicine (US) in 1999 titled Safety of Silicone Breast Implants, statistics from over a decade ago reported that the number of U.S. women who had had breast implants was probably somewhere between 1.5 million and 2 million. Source

In early 2011, The Daily Mail published an article quoting findings from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons who had found a 39% increase in the number of women choosing breast implant surgery than statistics from ten years ago. The institution also boasted figures of a 50% decrease in the amount of women requesting breast implant removal procedures; seemingly women are happier with the results too. Breast implants surgery wasn’t the only procedure to experience an increase in popularity; the demand for breast lifts increased by a massive 70% in the last decade. 91% of these patients were women, though the research revealed that rising numbers of men in the U.S. are also having plastic surgery, including male breast reduction surgery. Source

In 2011, The US Food and Drug Administration estimated that there are 5 to 10 million breast implant recipients worldwide, and a recent survey conducted by The International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS) found that breast augmentation was the second highest surgical procedure performed in 2009, representing 17% of all plastic surgery procedures performed – Source, Source. The rising numbers in women having breast implants has inevitably led to a rise in the worldwide market for the procedure, which is roughly $820 million a year and growing at 8 percent a year, according to industry figures. Source