SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Women & Leadership Project at Utah State University released new research titled “Cosmetic Surgery and Body Image Among Utah Women: A 2025 Update.”
The report looks at the different factors that influence the perceptions of beauty, cosmetic surgery, and body image in Utah women. The group first conducted a similar study nearly 8 years ago, but as things change with new advancements and social media platforms, they wanted to dig deeper into the data.
Susan Madsen, the Founding Director for the Utah Women and Leadership Project, said they found that 96% of girls in Utah between ages 14 and 19 have experienced appearance-based cyberbullying. And 92% have considered changing or altering their looks.
“Naturally, we focus on looks in our young girls,” Madsen said. “Messages that that is the most important thing is how I look and I need to be pretty. We’re doing that to be nice, but the focus on external appearance comes through in so many ways."
National data shows that from 2019 to 2022 surgical cosmetic procedures in the country increased by 19%.
Madsen said they also collected Utah and regional data that shows Utah is ranked 10th in the nation for board-certified plastic surgeons per capita.
It showed the state leads the nation in Google searches for breast augmentation and ranks top 10 for other cosmetic procedure searches too.
Madsen added that religion, social pressure, and social media can also have an impact on beauty perception.
“The more we have of the same religion, same race, other things as well, the more you see that, the more it’s actually likely you’ll have higher rates of cosmetic surgery,” Madsen said. “The reason for that is when you’re around people that are like you, for some reason, we compete more."
Although she says there isn’t an outright solution for the problem at hand, she hopes people will promote positive messaging - surrounding women’s bodies.
