Plastic surgery has become a thing to do for many Americans, including African-Americans. People opt to get nipped, tucked, injected, peeled and plumped in an effort to turn back time. This trend is encouraged by TV shows such as Extreme Makeover and The Swan.

In 2002, there were 375,025 Black cosmetic surgery patients, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the largest plastic surgery organization in the world. Last year, that number jumped to 487,887- an increase of about 30 percent. They were among the more than 8.7 million Americans who reportedly had cosmetic procedures last year.

African-American plastic surgeons attribute that increase to a TV-and-Internet-fueled awareness, improved technology that can make some procedures safer, less invasive and cause minimal scarring, and increased competition, which has driven down the cost of some procedures. And while the majority of patients are female, Black men are also getting into the mix.

Extreme Makeover’s Dr. Anthony Griffin, a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon says that now African-Americans are becoming more concerned about their image.

Many experts say that plastic surgery is no longer a taboo topic among Black families and friends. In the past, many African-Americans didn\'t want to go into the operating room for fear of coming out with features that were \'too White\' or \'too European.\'

With record numbers of Americans undergoing plastic surgery and Black America helping to spur that growth, it seems that it\'s all about looking good--whether that means getting your nose reshaped, breasts enlarged or reduced, eyelids lifted, fat removed or added, and butt lifted.

And increasingly, African-American plastic surgeons are ready to help - providing what some say is a much-needed emphasis on plastic surgery from a multiethnic perspective.

Several Black plastic surgeons have been among the leaders in creating or popularizing new procedures. Dr. Griffin helped make the butt lift a household phrase. The procedure, in which women and men, Blacks and Whites, have their own fat cells injected into different layers of the buttocks to provide more shape, experienced the highest growth percentage, according to statistics.

Plastic surgeons believe that there are ways to make changes that preserve ethnic identity.