The key facts
- According to the ISAPS survey, the number of cosmetic surgeries fell in 2025: by 14% for men and 7.7% for women
- Demand for liposuction dropped by 11.4% after a 12.6% decline the previous year
- Dubai surgeons link the changes to weight-loss drugs and note growing requests for face and body lifts
Declining demand for classic surgeries
The International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS) published the results of a survey in which more than 2,900 surgeons from 51 countries submitted clinical data for 2025. In total, almost 17.9 million surgical procedures were performed over the year, but certain categories lost significant ground: the number of surgeries on men fell by 14% compared with the previous year, and on women by 7.7% after a 4% drop in 2024. This was reported by The National.
Liposuction and injections are losing ground
Demand for liposuction fell by 11.4% in 2025 after a 12.6% decline the year before. Breast surgery and Botox are also losing popularity: in 2024 demand for both procedures dropped by 17%, and in 2025 by a further 2% and 7% respectively. Requests for hyaluronic acid fillers fell by about 25% over 12 months. The most popular surgery of 2025 remained blepharoplasty — 2.46 million procedures worldwide. UAE data were not included in the 2025 survey: the 2024 edition listed 272,000 surgeries in the emirates.
The impact of weight-loss drugs
Dr Sanjay Parashar, a surgeon and head of the Cocoona Centre of Aesthetic Transformation clinic in Dubai, linked the trends to the spread of weight-loss drugs: according to him, the volume of liposuction at the clinic has noticeably declined because of oral medications, while requests for face and body lifts have grown. He also expects demand for excess skin removal and tightening to rise as access to GLP-1 drugs expands. Dubai-based surgeon Dmitry Melnikov noted that patients on GLP-1 typically experience facial sagging, and trust in fillers is falling — they migrate and do not fully dissolve, so patients increasingly choose procedures that stimulate their own collagen production. He added that the ISAPS survey does not give a full picture of the emirates: patients with simple breast surgeries may turn to cheaper surgeons and not be captured in the sample.
Other factors and promising drugs
Vikas Verma, a plastic surgery consultant at NMC Royal Hospital DIP in Dubai, named market oversaturation among UAE clinics and price competition as another possible cause of the decline: with a large number of players, individual clinics lose volume even when the market grows. According to him, preferences are shifting toward non-invasive procedures with quick results, while GLP-1 is creating a new group of patients requesting face and body contouring, and at a younger age. Parashar added that next-generation drugs — 'triple' agonists acting on three hormone receptors at once — could reduce demand for liposuction even further: approval of retatrutide has not yet been granted, but trials show a potential weight loss of up to 28%. At the same time, he stressed, there is still no medical solution to skin aging, so cosmetic surgeons will retain opportunities. The impact of the drugs is also noted in the beauty industry: L'Oreal head Nicolas Hieronimus called the effect of weight-loss drugs 'phenomenal', and the company reported sales growth of 7.2% to €11.6 billion in the third quarter of 2026 and the development of products complementing GLP-1 therapy.
