Facial aesthetic training in U.S. plastic surgery residency: A multi-source analysis of resident exposure and market demand.

Abstract

This study assesses the relationship between operative exposure in U.S. plastic surgery residency and procedural demand in facial aesthetics by comparing national ACGME case log data from 935 independent-track residents (2013-2021) with global and U.S. procedural volume trends reported by the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (2014-2022). A comparative trend analysis of five facial aesthetic procedures, rhinoplasty, blepharoplasty, facelift, brow lift, and other head and neck aesthetic procedures, showed that resident case volume increased significantly for rhinoplasty (4.35% annually, p=0.046), brow lift (4.22%, p=0.002), and other head and neck procedures (5.60%, p=0.048), while no significant growth was observed for blepharoplasty or facelift. In contrast, U.S. market demand for blepharoplasty and facelift increased by 4.90% and 5.70% annually, respectively. These findings highlight areas where current training exposure diverges from evolving procedural trends and provide an objective framework for evaluating alignment between residency education and market demand in facial aesthetic surgery.