Silicone valley.

• Author: TITZE, MARIA

Guess who has more plastic surgeons per capita than Beverly Hills?

That's right. It appears the state of Utah is booming in the business of elective surgery.

"I'm as busy as I want to be," says Murray surgeon David Clayton. "I'd say we're typically scheduled three or four weeks in advance, and that's quite a bit better than it was 10 years ago."

Bradford Rockwell, chair of the division of plastic surgery at the University of Utah Medical Center, doesn't know quite why the state has more plastic surgeons per capita than other metropolitan areas -- more than 75 listed in the Yellow Pages alone.

"Maybe it's residents who train here and decide to stay. Maybe it's just that this is a nice place to live," he says.

But certainly the profession is growing. Rockwell says 30 years ago, plastic surgeons could only be found in Salt Lake City. "Now a number are in places like American Fork, Layton and Bountiful," he says. "You figure those cities will need primary care doctors and pediatricians. You might not think they would have the population to support a plastic surgeon, but (the doctors) are surviving."

Not all cosmetic surgeons say business is brisk, but most believe the industry follows the ups and downs of the economy.

When the state is prosperous and its residents have some extra income, they spend it on breast augmentation, liposuction and facial cosmetic surgery -- the procedures most common in Clayton's practice.

Salt Lake City is also home to iEnhance.com, a website for prospective patients, that boasts over 40 million hits annually. CEO Gene Erickson says Utah's interest in elective surgery is mirroring national trends.

"The age of the target market is spreading," he says. "It used to be 30 to 55, and now it's 25 to 60."

That's good news for business -- and so is the fact that plastic surgery is no longer reserved for women. "Men are getting involved -- in liposuction quite a bit, but also in face-lifts," Erickson says.

The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery says that in 1999, 11 percent of cosmetic procedures were performed on men. The ASAPS says that in the West, procedures like chemical peels and collagen injections are still much more common than surgeries. But those less invasive procedures often give patients the courage to try something else.

At iEnhance.com, information about cosmetic dentistry and LASIK eye surgery is listed alongside rhinoplasty and face-lifts.

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