Our inaugural Real Talk Report unpacks the biggest trends that shaped the aesthetics market in 2024, teasing apart regional and generational differences in consumer behavior.
Consumers made over 55 million visits to RealSelf in 2024, looking for the right cosmetic procedures and providers to help them achieve their aesthetic goals. While injectables and other minimally invasive treatments got their fair share of attention, most people sought out plastic surgery procedures, according to a new analysis of RealSelf search data.
The top 5 most-searched procedures of 2024
Plastic surgery dominated the shortlist of this year’s most-researched procedures.
Liposuction searches surged, despite the Ozempic boom
Liposuction was the most popular procedure on RealSelf in 2024, with searches up 144% vs. last year.
Consumer searches for 360 lipo (which contours the entire midsection) and chin liposuction also saw triple-digit growth, as did laser lipo, which boasts both fat reduction and mild skin tightening benefits.
Liposuction’s bulletproof popularity seems counterintuitive in the age of GLP-1 agonist weight loss drugs like Ozempic, but rising demand for the procedure underscores a complementary trend: people seeking a leaner, more athletic look are choosing lipo to refine weight loss results and target specific areas of resistant fat.
Board-certified plastic surgeon Dr. Shahram Salemy saw this trend play out in his own Seattle practice this year. “We are definitely seeing an increase in patients seeking liposuction with the goal of looking fit. With the growing accessibility of GLP-1 medications, patients are achieving their weight-loss goals more efficiently, and they’re motivated to refine their body contours to match their progress.”
Dr. Vivek Bansal, a board-certified plastic surgeon in the San Francisco Bay Area, has seen more patients taking semaglutide who need a combination of liposuction and skin tightening to correct uneven fat loss and sagging. He frequently pairs lipo with Renuvion (formerly J-Plasma). The skin tightening results don’t match those of a surgical tummy tuck, but he says they can come close in the right patient.
Dr. Bansal points to another reason for the uptick in liposuction patients at his practice: “More patients are coming in for awake liposuction,” performed under oral sedation. “Going under general anesthesia for an elective procedure is still a little taboo, so when patients hear we can just give them a happy pill and they’ll be relaxed, they’re very interested in that option,” he says.
Fat under the chin is notoriously resistant to weight loss, and board-certified facial plastic surgeon Dr. Dilip Madnani reports rising demand for chin liposuction at his practice in New York City this year.
Social media not only fuels the desire for sharply defined jawlines—it raises patient awareness that lipo is often a better option than nonsurgical treatments for sculpting this highly visible area, according to Dr. Madnani. “It’s quick, low-risk and permanent,” he says. Because most nonsurgical options require multiple treatments, lipo usually “ends up costing almost the same, and the recovery is probably quicker with liposuction, as it’s a one and done procedure.”
Breast lifts are the new “boob job”
Breast lift searches rose 116% year-over-year, putting it in the #2 spot. Dr. Salemy attributes the growing interest in breast lift surgery to a few factors: the normalization of cosmetic surgery, a “preference for smaller breast sizes,” and the desire to reverse changes from weight loss.
“Many of our patients seek natural-looking results, especially after pregnancy or significant weight changes, which often lead to a loss of volume or sagging,” explains Dr. Salemy. “A breast lift can be a great solution to restore shape and provide a youthful contour.”
“Yes, semaglutide is causing massive weight loss, which can cause ptosis or breast sagging,” says Dr. Bansal. He also credits social media with the rising interest in breast lifts and says patients are increasingly willing to travel to be treated by a surgeon whose work they follow. “We’ve had patients from six different continents who’ve done breast lifts with us,” he reports. The procedure can also be performed under twilight sedation, and incision techniques like the lollipop lift can minimize scars.
Tummy tucks reflect a fitter aesthetic
Searches for tummy tucks rose 84% this year, landing this surgical body contouring procedure at #3. Stretched muscles and excess skin that’s left behind after a pregnancy aren’t the only reasons people seek out abdominoplasty: weight loss can also leave a level of sagging that can’t be reversed at the gym, or even with nonsurgical skin tightening treatments.
Breast augmentation goals trend more natural
Breast augmentation came in at #4 on this year’s list. Patient requests reflected the trend toward more natural-looking results, with less interest in a major size increase. At Dr. Salemy’s practice, “patients are opting for smaller implants to achieve a more subtle, natural enhancement” that fits their proportions.
Dr. Bansal has seen an explosion of interest in natural breast augmentation with fat transfer, often paired with a breast lift. Excess fat is removed via liposuction, purified, and injected in the area where a patient wants more volume. Dr. Bansal’s practice has offered this option for almost 15 years, and he says it has never been a more popular choice. “Over 75% of our patients choose to have natural fat in their breast instead of an implant.”
RealSelf searches for breast implants were still double those for fat transfer breast augmentation in 2024, but breast implant searches rose just 64%, compared to a 297% increase for “breast fat transfer.”
“We’re seeing more interest in fat transfer procedures,” Dr. Salemy confirms. “What’s better than taking unwanted fat from one area and using it to enhance another? Fat transfer is a fantastic option for patients seeking subtle, natural-looking enhancements without implants, and we anticipate this trend will continue to grow.”
Rhinoplasty searches show rising interest in preserving ethnic identity
Rhinoplasty rounded out the list of the top 5 most-searched procedures this year, with searches up 90%. Also worth noting: a 334% jump in searches for Asian rhinoplasty—and a whopping 852% rise in African American rhinoplasty searches this year.
Social media has fueled cultural trends of embracing individual beauty, and rhinoplasty patients are increasingly focused on preserving their racial and ethnic identity.
There’s also more awareness of the nuanced surgical techniques that are required to create a natural-looking result, and a growing number of surgeons has honed their skills to cater to specific patient populations.
Dr. Jimmy Sung, a board-certified plastic surgeon in Manhattan who specializes in East Asian rhinoplasty, says most rhinoplasty procedures for Caucasian patients reduce and refine nasal structures, while rhinoplasty surgeries for Asian patients tend to involve cartilage grafts to build a more defined tip or reinforce a low bridge—techniques that require a special skill set and years (or decades) to master.
Facelifts, Brazilian butt lifts, and more of this year’s top 10
6. Facelift searches rose a modest 51%, though interest in deep plane facelifts (which lift the underlying tissue before redraping the skin, avoiding the windblown look) jumped 319%.
Dr. Madnani reports that while his practice has focused on facelift surgery for over 10 years, he saw two notable shifts this year: “Now I am seeing younger people coming in, as well as people with weight loss over a short period of time.” Many of his facelift patients who have lost weight have also lost volume, and he often combines a facelift with facial fat transfer to restore a more youthful look. He’s not the only one seeing more interest in this natural alternative to fillers: searches for facial fat transfer climbed 253% this year.
7. Brazilian butt lift searches rose just 32% this year, reflecting the desire for a more streamlined, natural-looking figure that some have called a De-Kardashian-ification of American beauty culture.
Dr. Bansal has seen this trend play out in two ways in his practice: more requests for mini BBLs and an increasing number of Brazilian butt lift revisions and reductions. “One of our biggest requests is from people who went to Atlanta or Miami for surgery, and when they come back a lot of times their significant others say ‘No, this is not natural, I don’t like the way you look,’” he says. Typically, revision BBLs in his practice involve a combination liposuction and skin tightening.
8. Eyelid surgery landed at #8 on the list, with searches up 84%. Most notably, this low-downtime facial rejuvenation procedure—a favorite on TikTok—was the top search term in five major metros, from Miami to LA.
9. Morpheus8 came in at #9, with searches rising an impressive 184% this year. The only nonsurgical option to break the top 10, this radiofrequency microneedling skin rejuvenation procedure trended hard in February when Kim Kardashian posted on Instagram about getting it to tighten the skin on her belly. (Her verdict: “painful lol but worth it!”) In the right hands, Morpheus8 and similar nonsurgical treatments can be a solid option for patients who aren’t yet ready for a tummy tuck or other surgical skin tightening options.
10. Breast reduction rounded out the top 10, with searches up 84% year-over-year. For people with overly large breasts who want to be more active and fit more easily in clothes, a reduction can be a total game-changer (and may even be covered by insurance).
The most-searched procedures by generation
Gen Z and Millennials want breast enhancement, while Gen X and Baby Boomers face realities of aging
Breaking down RealSelf search behavior by generation is a window into how our bodies age and our collective preoccupations at each stage.
Catherine Deneuve famously remarked that a woman “must choose between her bottom and her face,” and Jane Fonda agreed, putting the dilemma a bit more bluntly.
Our search data shows that by the mid-40s (the youngest Gen-Xers), far more people choose to enhance the more visible area: facelift searches, which don’t even register in the top 5 for Millenials, surge to #2 for Gen X and #1 for Baby Boomers (closely followed by neck lifts).
Gen Xers’ sudden fixation on facelifts makes perfect sense when you consider the average age of menopause onset is 51. In the years both before and after, collagen depletion erodes skin elasticity and fat deposits descend from the cheeks into the jowls. As RealSelf contributor Jolene Edgar recently reported in Allure, Gen X has been more proactive than their parents in pursuing facelifts in their 50s, as soon as they see changes that bother them—and while they still have enough elasticity to heal well.
That said, the #1 concern for Gen X is reclaiming their midsection: tummy tucks are their #1 most-searched term (and come in at #3 for Baby Boomers). Moms in their mid-40s may finally feel financially ready for a tummy tuck, possibly paired with breast surgery and liposuction—a spendy but transformative combination known as a mommy makeover.
Another notable generational difference is eyelid surgery’s appearance at #4 on the list of most-searched procedures by Baby Boomers. The benefits of eye lift surgery (aka blepharoplasty) have attracted attention on social media this year, as celebrities and influencers are increasingly open about their own results. While it’s becoming a more common choice among Millennials and even some Gen Z consumers, Boomers are still the primary patient demographic—and may even qualify for insurance coverage to correct sagging lids that obscure their vision.
Digging into Millennial search behavior, we see intense interest in all the procedures that make up a mommy makeover, with breast augmentation topping the list. At this stage in life, many moms who have finished breastfeeding weigh whether they want to revive deflated breasts via an augmentation (with implants or fat), a lift, or a combo.
It’s also worth noting that Millennials are far more interested in preserving (or enhancing) their butt than their face: Brazilian butt lift takes the #5 spot, behind liposuction and tummy tucks, while facelifts don’t even make it into their top 10.
Gen Z searches stand out for how many breast procedures made their top 5, including breast augmentation, lifts, and reduction. The desire to have more proportional breasts often starts in the teens and early twenties.
Gen Z is also the only age group to count rhinoplasty among their top 5 most-searched procedures: it comes in at #3. This aligns with the trend of most rhinoplasty patients having the procedure by their late twenties. Facial plastic surgeons are divided on how young is too young for a nose job, but they agree that it’s important to wait until the nose is fully developed—usually by the late teens.
Search trends by major U.S. metro
The top search terms on RealSelf varied by region, but a few trends stand out.
- Eyelid surgery came out on top in 6 major metro areas: LA, NYC, Boston, Philadelphia, Dallas-Forth Worth, and even Miami. Hollywood loves an open eye, but the driver in several of these cities may be demographics: Baby Boomers account for nearly 40% of the population in LA and Miami, for example.
- Botox topped the list of most-searched procedures in San Francisco and Washington, DC, two famously career-oriented metros where subtle rejuvenation could provide an advantage. (Via a YouGov survey, the RealSelf Culture Report found that 28% of people working in tech feel pressure to look younger at work, with Millennials and Gen Z reporting the most pressure.)
- Chicago is the only major metro where rhinoplasty came in at #1, though it was #2 in LA, Boston, Dallas-Forth Worth, Philadelphia, Miami, and Washington, DC.
The 2024 Real Talk Report is based on consumer search data on RealSelf.com from January 1 through October 21, 2024. Find more details about patient-reported average costs and Worth It Ratings on RealSelf or email questions to contactus@realself.com.
