While searching for information on how much plastic surgery is paid by insurance and how much is paid out-of-pocket by customers I ran across the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. They publish the National Clearinghouse of Plastic Surgery Statistics and have over two decades of plastic surgery statistics. This is a great example of why associations are such an integral part of business research. Associations are completely focused on their area of business and they often survey their members and then publish those results on the web. Not all associations provide information for free, but many do, and if they don't you should pick up the phone and call them and ask for last year's survey or a specific piece of data or table for a discounted price. My motto is always pick up the phone!
The 2010 report doesn't include any payment information but they do provide information about the top procedures by age, and region and even provide national average fees charged for procedures. Plus this year includes a survey of customers done by Harris Interactive on behalf of RealSelf.com. This 22 page report of 2009 statistics features information like:
Procedures were down 3% for the year, but overall that is still $10 billion spent on cosmetic procedures
The national average surgeons/physician fee for a face lift was $6,396
5,196,006 reconstructive procedures were conducted
The top procedure for men was nose reshaping
Know about an association that's been helpful to you? Tell us about it in the comments.