VIDEO: Aesthetic procedures on upward trend

If your practice’s business is anything like national trends, you may need to beef-up your number of staff members for 2014 to handle the explosion of aesthetic procedures coming through your doors.

According to a recent survey by the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery, the number of surgical and nonsurgical skin cancer and aesthetic procedures increased from 2012 to 2013.

Skin cancer procedures have increased 13 percent, while laser and light-based procedures have increased 34 percent in 2013, the survey shows. Nonsurgical treatment, such as wrinkle-relaxing injections and soft-tissue fillers, have increased 20 and 8 percent, respectively, in 2013 over 2012.

In the United Kingdom, the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons reported Feb. 4 that it has seen a 16.5 percent increase in the number of cosmetic surgery procedures from 2012 to 2013. The greatest increase was a 41 percent rise in the number of liposuction procedures. Browlifts and rhinoplasties each saw a 17 percent increase in the number of procedures in men and women combined, according to the report.

“Obviously the public is becoming more and more aware that dermatologic surgeons are the go-to people not only for skin cancer, but for cosmetic procedures,” says Mitchel P. Goldman, M.D., ASDS president. “We’re obviously seeing an increase in the economy, no matter what the press says, and that’s allowing patients more leeway to do cosmetic procedures."

Dr. Goldman says his practice has added more nurses to his staff and physician extenders can also help with the influx of patients in 2014.

“We tend to do most of the procedures ourselves,” Dr. Goldman says, of most ASDS members. “Maybe we’re working a little bit longer and taking a little less vacation, but we’re providing better care to our patients.”

In the future, there could be more of a split among dermatologists - those who perform mostly medical procedures and those who perform mostly surgical procedures as well as minimally invasive cosmetic procedures, Dr. Goldman says.

“We just have to start working little bit smarter,” he says. “We have to be a little more efficient in the way we’re seeing our patients.”