1.1 Market definition and presentation

The medical and cosmetic surgery market includes several distinct segments :

A plastic surgery of the technique of body reshaping through surgical procedures to correct a morphological anomaly or the external appearance of the patient's body;
An aesthetic medicine which represents all non-surgical advice, care and treatment designed to improve a patient's aesthetic appearance;
The products cosmeceuticals located halfway between cosmetics and medicines, which contain active ingredients that allow a specific dermatological treatment (wrinkles, dark circles, etc.).

Therefore, cosmetic surgery only concerns operations on patients' bodies, such as breast surgery, the most popular procedure. Aesthetic medicine, on the other hand, can be practised by general practitioners or specialists. The vast majority of cosmetic medicine procedures involve injections under the skin, for example, to reduce wrinkles. Cosmeceuticals are most often used to correct skin ageing, although their effectiveness has not yet been proven.

The global cosmetic surgery and medicine market is growing at full steam. This growth is particularly driven by the dynamism of the Asian regions, which are currently the main focus of global demand. However, the market is still largely dominated by the United States and Brazil. For these countries, the major players include Allergan plc, Alma Lasers, Anika Therapeutics, Inc. and Merz Aesthetics Inc.

In Brazil, the outlook looks promising. According to data recently released by the Brazilian Association of the Personal Care, Perfumery and Cosmetics Industry (ABIHPEC), since 2014 the number of professionals working in this sector has grown by 567%, from 72,000 to over 480,000. According to the same association, in 2019 alone, the sector advanced by more than R$47.5 billion, and the growth forecast for 2020 is over 14%. This progress is due to the higher standard of living of the population, coupled with culturally high concern with the physical appearance of Brazilians.

1.2. The global market

As the market can be defined in many ways, depending on which segments we decide to include or not, the size of the overall market varies greatly depending on the sources used. For this study, we will focus on plastic surgery and non-invasive aesthetic medicine (***). Thus, in the market sizes presented, ...

1.3 The Brazilian market

As we pointed out in the previous section, Brazil is a giant of the world's aesthetic medicine. Being the second country that registered the largest number of aesthetic medical procedures after the United States in **** with *,***,***, Brazil was the world leader in the number of invasive procedures that same year (***).

This ...

2.1 Brazilians' privileged relationship with the body and beauty

Brazil is a country where the relationship to self-expression, joy of life and beauty are culturally very strong. Whether during the great Carnival celebrations, where people express themselves without thinking twice, or in the local music (***) for men and the thinner bikinis for women are the norm. Brazilians, therefore, want to ...

2.2 Typology of demand

A. The plastic surgeries

The plastic/invasive surgeries can be divided into * categories: head and face; breasts and body. The distribution of the total number of surgeries among these three categories is quite balanced, each one having about one third of the procedures.

The most common types of surgery Brazil, ****, in ...

2.3 Typology of patients

Without information about the sex of patients in Brazil, we can use the percentages for the entire world as a proxy to have an idea. On this scale, **.*% of people undergoing cosmetic treatment are women and only **.*% are men. These numbers change little if they are invasive (***) procedures.

However, we know ...

3.1 Surgeons and clinics

In Brazil, in ****, the number of plastic surgeons was ****, or **.*% of the number of plastic surgeons in the world. This is the second-largest number of plastic surgeons in the world after the United States (***). This means that, due to population differences, Brazil is the leading country in terms of the number ...

3.2 Manufacture of plastic surgery and aesthetic medicine equipment

The production of equipment for aesthetic purposes includes the manufacture of breast prostheses, injectable products, equipment and finally cosmeceuticals. As the aesthetic market demands high entry costs and advanced technology, most manufacturers are in the production of one of these segments.

As the main players in the market are international groups, ...

3.3 Multi-channel distribution and increased empowerment of end-consumers

Clients seeking cosmetic medical treatment may go to hospitals or other practices in the event that the treatment requires professional intervention (***). However, not all treatments fall into this category. There are more and more processes that customers can do independently, not to mention the entire cosmeceutical segment that customers find directly ...

4.1 Prices

The price of a plastic surgery can vary enormously depending on the surgeon, the region where you are and the work to be done, among others. However, the Dr. Luciana Pepino, specialist member in plastic surgery by the Brazilian Society of Plastic Surgery (***) gives the following estimates :

Among the noninvasive procedures, ...

5.1 Become a surgeon

Due to the great responsibility entrusted to them and the very high technical level required, training to become a plastic surgeon is the medical speciality that requires the longest studies in Brazil. It consists of a standard medical course of * years, a residency in general surgery to become a surgeon and ...