More than 1.6 million Americans went under the knife for beauty in 2010, receiving breast implants, liposuction or facelifts, sending the rate of cosmetic surgeries up almost 9% from the prior year, according to a report released Monday. Plastic surgeons say the increase generally tracks a reviving economy: A 2009 Cleveland Clinic study found a direct correlation between plastic surgery procedures and trends in the S&P 500, Dow Jones and Nasdaq indexing. "We've joked for years that we could create an economic indicator about how we're booked," said Felmont Eaves, president of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. Americans spent $6.6 billion on cosmetic surgery in 2010, according to a survey of 938 plastic surgeons by the ASAPS, a Garden Grove, CA, group of plastic surgeons specializing in cosmetic surgery.
