Cosmetic surgery procedures for patients 66 and older rose 24% in 2025. Which surgeries led?

Who this is for

This is for the physician or medical professional who owns a plastic surgery practice, dermatology practice or med spa treating patients over 65. It also serves the operations lead who decides where the practice advertises, how new leads are tracked, and how consultations are performed and followed up on.

What we found

In 2025, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) counted faster US cosmetic surgery growth for patients 66 and older than for any other age group. A separate 2025 online survey covered a wider band, adults aged 50 to 80, with similar findings. Most of these older adults who had aesthetic treatment said they wished they had started sooner.^1,2

Several sources stop short of the oldest patients. One supplier's platform guide ends its oldest age band at 65. The Botox Cosmetic label says its trials held too few subjects 65 or older to tell whether they respond differently.^3,4 Vendor studies often leave this older group out, which makes it worth a closer look.

How fast did cosmetic surgery grow among patients 66 and older in 2025?

Faster than in any other age group. The society counted 24% more US cosmetic surgery procedures for patients 66 and older in 2025 than in 2024. Procedures rose 15% for ages 56 to 65 and 8% for ages 46 to 55. Counts for ages 36 to 45 were statistically steady. The society counts procedures, so a patient who had two surgeries appears twice and so on.¹

Despite growing more slowly, patients 36 to 55 still had nearly half of overall volume. They accounted for 738,000 of the 1.5 million cosmetic surgery operations in the US in 2025 (49%). Dr. Steven Williams, a board-certified plastic surgeon who founded Tri Valley Plastic Surgery in Dublin, California, and became the society's president in 2023, said "the core of our specialty today is patients between 36 and 55 years old."^1,5

Worldwide, the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS) counted nearly 17.9 million surgical and 17.3 million nonsurgical procedures performed by plastic surgeons in 2025. The society reports that its overall procedure count rose 9.2% over the last four years.⁶

CareCredit, the patient financing card owned by Synchrony, sells its financial products to practices, a market we covered in patient financing. It cites research by The Aesthetic Society, a surgeons' society, with the cosmetic surgery insurer CosmetAssure. It reports that 39.6% of aesthetic surgical procedures in 2023 involved patients over 50.⁷

Which cosmetic surgeries do patients 66 and older choose, compared with patients 56 to 65?

Eyelid surgery came first. In the US society's 2025 statistics, the 66-plus group chose eyelid surgery most often, then facelifts and liposuction. Breast augmentation, arm lifts and other body lifts also saw sizable gains in that group.⁸

Liposuction led the same 2025 list for ages 56 to 65 and ranked third for ages 66 and up. From 2024 to 2025, breast augmentation and eyelid surgery rose in popularity in the 56 to 65 band, and facial fat grafting and thigh lifts were among the highest gainers.⁸

The international society reports that eyelid surgery was again the most common surgical procedure worldwide in 2025, across all ages. Liposuction, breast augmentation, breast lift and abdominoplasty (tummy tuck) followed.⁶

On our reading, the US order of surgeries performed hints at which ones the 66-plus group asks about. A gallery meant for them would carry eyelid and facelift cases from patients that age. We covered Meta's rules for these photos in ads in before‑and‑after ads. What a practice shows on its own website is less regulated and at its discretion.

What do adults 50 to 80 say about aging and aesthetic treatment?

Many have had treatment, and many others are considering it. A survey published in 2025 in ASJ Open Forum, the open-access journal of The Aesthetic Society, polled 7,588 adults online. They ranged in age from 50 to 80, with a mean (average) of 65. Of them, 39.8% had received aesthetic treatment, 28.7% had never had treatment but were considering it, and 31.5% had never had treatment and were not considering it.²

Regret over waiting was common in the first two groups. Of those who had received treatment, 63% said they regretted not starting earlier in life. Among those considering treatment, 68% said the same. So did 20% of those who had never had treatment and were not considering it.²

A 2018 study in JAMA Dermatology, the American Medical Association's dermatology journal, surveyed patients seeking cosmetic procedures. Of them, 66 (12.9%) were 65 or older.⁹

The same study asked what shaped each patient's choice of provider. The provider's reputation was influential for 396 of 470 respondents (84.3%).⁹ We see reviews and public referrals from existing patients as two places a prospective patient may meet that reputation. We covered the federal rules on asking for reviews in review rewards.

To put these findings into practice, ads aimed at patients over 65 could speak to the results patients want and to how often people this age regret waiting.

Where do vendors say aesthetic leads come from, and do their age bands reach past 65?

Anzolo Medical, a supplier to aesthetic practices, published a 2026 marketing guide for med spas. It lists Facebook as the strongest platform for ages 40 to 65. Testimonials and promotional offers are the best content there. It places Instagram as the top platform for ages 25 to 45 and TikTok for those 18 to 35. Its oldest band ends at 65.³

Liine, a company that sells to medical practices, published a benchmark of more than 145,000 new patient leads. The leads came from US aesthetics, cosmetic surgery and dermatology practices during 2024. Online forms made up 59.4% of first contacts, and phone calls made up 40.6%. What Liine labels "marketing channels" brought in 71.8% of leads. Direct contact or referral brought in 28.2%, which we read as non-digital ways patients reach a practice.¹⁰

In the same benchmark, 50.1% of new patient inquiries became a scheduled appointment.¹⁰ A practice can run the same split on its own leads by age band and lead source to assess performance compared to a benchmark.

Does age raise complication risk, and how many older patients were in the Botox trials?

A 2015 study in the Aesthetic Surgery Journal examined the safety of cosmetic procedures in elderly patients and those in their eighties. It reports a 2.2% complication rate for patients in their eighties.¹¹ These were patients surgeons had already accepted for surgery, so the rate covers only complications in patients judged fit for treatment; patients turned away fall outside the count. We looked at facelift risk by age in older facelift patients.

The Journal of Plastic Surgery and Hand Surgery published a 2022 paper comparing aging and younger cosmetic surgery patients, with 60 as the dividing age. Of 803 body contouring procedures, 12% were performed on patients over 60, and 107 had complications. As one might expect, its abstract reports that the aging patients had more underlying medical conditions, and mastopexy (breast lift) was more common among them. The authors found patients over 60 at no higher risk of complications than younger patients, though risk rose with age when age was measured year by year.¹²

AbbVie's 2024 prescribing label for Botox Cosmetic covers the neuromodulator made by its Allergan Aesthetics unit. The label covers four uses, from frown lines to platysma bands, the vertical cords in the neck. In the label's two platysma band studies, 13 subjects (3.6%) were 65 or older.⁴ As with the supplier guide above, the trials held few patients over 65.

For example, the label says the studies "did not include sufficient numbers of subjects 65 years or older to determine whether they respond differently from younger subjects."⁴

The research above shows behavioral differences, and gaps in the information, between patients 65 and older and younger cosmetic patients. A simple count of a practice's own patients by age shows whether it sees the same trends. We expect location to shape how often this age group seeks treatment, and perhaps how it behaves. Patients 65 and older in a major metropolitan area like Los Angeles, New York or Miami likely behave differently from those in rural areas or in places popular with retirees.

About this review

We read 12 sources in October 2026. They were three society publications (two from ASPS and one from ISAPS), one ASPS press release, four peer-reviewed studies, one drug label and three vendor pages. The 2022 study was read in its abstract, and the 2015 and 2018 studies in indexed summaries. We name the source beside each number and do no arithmetic across sources.

The ASPS counts cover cosmetic surgery in the US in 2024 and 2025. The ISAPS survey counts what member plastic surgeons around the world reported for 2025. The 2025 online survey polled US adults ages 50 to 80, and the JAMA Dermatology study included a subgroup of patients 65 or older. Liine's benchmark covers 2024 leads at US practices. The CareCredit and Anzolo Medical pages date from 2025 and 2026. Age bands differ between sources. The cuts run as follows: 66 and older for ASPS, 65 or older for the JAMA study and the Botox label, over 50 for CareCredit, and 50 to 80 for the survey. Each data point keeps its source's band.

Fractional Aesthetics is a growth strategy practice for aesthetic medical businesses.