The most popular plastic surgery procedures each season
The weather, the holidays, the number of hours each day your kids are away – all of these things can matter when you’re scheduling plastic surgery.

What do back-to-school and plastic surgery have in common? You might be excited to get new clothes with each, but that's not really what this is about. School calendars, ski vacations and beach season all play a role in shaping plastic surgery trends and patient decisions. It's an interesting phenomenon, to be sure, and it's often a practical one, too. Certain plastic surgery procedures tend to spike at specific times of the year, as patients' goals and free time shift with the seasons.

Plastic surgery's popularity in winter

Before remote work was the norm, for example, "no plastic surgeon took off Christmas week, because that and the week before were their two most popular of the year," said Melissa Doft, MD. When she was a resident about 15 years ago, it was pretty standard for patients to save up their vacation days for the end of the year and use the time off to recover after surgery.

"A lot of people still try to time their recovery to vacation, depending on what kind of work environment they're in – some are less flexible, and some are more flexible," says Adam Kolker, MD.

This might be especially true for some male patients, for whom "bruising can be more taboo, and having that extra time [off] to heal is really quite valuable for them," said Dr. Doft. This year, for example, she performed two facelifts for male patients the week before Thanksgiving. According to her, facelift recovery typically takes about two weeks.

But now that working from home is more common, people might be more likely to spend the winter holiday hanging with friends and family and defer surgery until after the break is over. There's still a lot of winter left on the East Coast, and for some patients, that means the new year is an opportunity to get the facial procedures they've been considering.

"January and February, that's facelift season for New York City," said Dr. Doft, adding blepharoplasty is popular in her practice during the winter, too. "It's cold, people don't want to go out, and they've already done all the holiday stuff with their family."

Now, they have time to take care of themselves, and that includes recovery postop. A blepharoplasty's recovery is shorter than that of a facelift, with about seven to 10 days of bruising without pain, according to her.

Prepping for beach season in the spring

As the weather warms up, patients might opt for body procedures instead.

"As you get into March, April and May, it's breast augmentation, tummy tucks and liposuction," said Dr. Doft. "People are thinking about getting ready for the summer."

Even in parts of the country where it's warmer year-round, breast augmentation can be most popular in spring, when people start thinking about the swimsuits they'll wear over summer.

"It's really a very specific thing," says Steven Teitelbaum, MD, adding that the recovery for breast augmentation is typically a long weekend, with restrictions on physical activity after that – it's another reason why people might get the procedure in the spring, before they're more active in the summer.

"A lot of procedures have relative restrictions on certain exercises – with breast augmentation, for example, you most often can't do pushups, planks, Pilates, yoga or running until about six weeks," said Dr. Kolker. "Women will say, 'Well, wait a sec. I love my summers. I love to be out running and biking. Maybe it's better to do this in the fall.'"

Plastic surgery once school's out for summer

For the hottest parts of the country, especially, patients might want to hold off on procedures like liposuction.

"It's already so hot, they don't want to have to wear the [compression] garments," said Dr. Teitelbaum.

The patients who do tend to get plastic surgery in the summer are often younger.

"It's kids making that transition from high school to college, or college to graduate school, or long summers within college," said Dr. Doft, adding that most often, they're getting breast reductions, breast augmentation, rhinoplasty or – especially for the youngest patients – otoplasty for the ears.

Of course, there are exceptions. In Dr. Kolker's practice, mommy makeovers, including breast and body contouring procedures, spike during the last few weeks of June.

"There is a very significant uptick, then an immediate dip, and then it picks up three to four weeks later," said Dr. Kolker. "It's because moms have their kids going off to camp, and they want to be ready for visiting day – or they're going to wait until after visiting day, so they have that remaining three-ish weeks [to recover]. It's an interesting phenomenon."

Getting plastic surgery when kids go back to school

For many patients, when their kids go back to school in the fall is the time to get a tummy tuck.

"We always talk about how many tummy tucks there are: 'We got one every day this week. We have two tomorrow,'" said Dr. Teitelbaum. "It is for sure the busiest [time] for tummy tucks."

Dr. Doft often suggests that her fall tummy tuck patients wait until October to get surgery.

"There are always those back-to-school things," said Dr. Doft. "You can't not show up to meet-the-teacher night."

Commitments, busy schedules and managing the unpredictable – such as when the new backpack breaks, and you have to run out for another – can all sound mundane when you're talking about surgery, but these are things worth considering before you press a brief pause on your day-to-day activity, with Dr. Doft adding, "I'll tell them, 'Let's wait until the second week of October.'"

To find a qualified plastic surgeon for any cosmetic or reconstructive procedure, consult a member of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. All ASPS members are board certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery, have completed an accredited plastic surgery training program, practice in accredited facilities and follow strict standards of safety and ethics. Find an ASPS member in your area.