How Vain is Your City?

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Where do you live? Hartford, CT? Would you be surprised to know your city ranks number five on the list of vainest cities in the U.S.? Sacramento, CA? Bet you don’t know your town ranks fifth in America for most plastic surgeons per 100,000 people.

Several media organizations regularly track and report on cosmetic surgery and related topics. A variety of cosmetic surgeons get into the act too. And why not? In our appearance-obsessed culture, beauty—and all the ways to get more of it—is a hot topic. Admittedly, all the headlines and stats don’t mean that much to the average person. But they are fun to read.

Earlier this year, The Daily Beast—that famous list-happy website—developed a gallery of America’s 20 vainest cities. Noting that in today’s world, “looking ‘perfect’ has never been so attainable nor the pursuit so tempting” the team at The Daily Beast sought to determine which cities’ residents spent the most on spa treatments, gym memberships and personal care products.

The Daily Beast used data from industry and government sources in their quest. These included the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association for data on gyms, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for obesity numbers by city and Bundle.com, for data on personal care product spending. The team chose to give double importance to this last criterion in an effort to account for citizens who are truly appearance-crazy and not simply health-conscious.

Some of the “vainest city” findings:

#1: San Francisco; over half the population is not obese
#2: Boston; more than 23/100 residents belong to a gym

Maybe those top two rankings are not very shocking. But you may find it a surprise that Miami, with its famous South Beach culture and TV shows featuring beautiful people, ranks all the way down at number15. Or that Charlotte made the list at number 8.

Turning to cosmetic surgery, a practice in San Francisco run by plastic surgeon Dr. Usha Rajagopal, recently did a project to determine the “Top 10 Best US Cities for Plastic Surgery.” Based on the notion that more plastic surgeons per capita makes a city a better place for surgery, Rajagopal’s staff compared overall population to number of plastic surgeons to come up with these rankings:

#1 Miami
#2 Atlanta
#3 Dallas
#4 San Francisco
#5 Sacramento
#6 Baltimore
#7 Nashville
#8 Louisville
#9 Seattle
#10 Washington D.C.

Some of these findings are definitely surprising. Who would have guessed that Atlanta would rank number 2? Or Baltimore number 6, when that city did not even make The Daily Beast list? And could it be true that Miamians are willing to go under the knife in droves, but not spend much money at spas, gyms and salons?

There may not be too much wisdom to glean from all these lists—after all, maybe plastic surgeons locate in Atlanta just because they want to live there.

Do you live in one of these so-called “narcissistic” areas of the country? Do you believe your city’s ranking is justified?

References:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-01-30/20-vainest-cities-from-san-francisco-to-la-to-miami/

http://sfcosmeticsurgery.com/blog/top-10-best-us-cities-for-plastic-surgery/

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We value and respect our HERWriters' experiences, but everyone is different. Many of our writers are speaking from personal experience, and what's worked for them may not work for you. Their articles are not a substitute for medical advice, although we hope you can gain knowledge from their insight.