The Price of Vanity? Try $12.2 billion

That's the amount Americans spent last year improving their appearances with the help of cosmetic surgery, wrinkle fillers, facelifts, fat suctioning and other beautifying options.

About 11.5 million cosmetic procedures were performed overall in the United States in 2006, according to the latest survey released by the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.

The number of procedures increased by 1 percent over the previous year, with most of the rise due to a surge in nonsurgical procedures, such as Botox injections and facial "fillers," said Dr. James Stuzin, a plastic surgeon in Miami and president of the society.

"The total is up by 1 percent," Stuzin said, even though surgical procedures actually declined by 9 percent.So, what's the latest? Botox is becoming fairly common in men. Previously, Botox had been used "off-label," meaning many doctors used it for wrinkle relief, although it was not officially approved for that purpose but is common and legal practice.

In 2006, the top surgical procedures for both men and women were liposuction, breast augmentation,eyelid surgery, abdominoplasty,and female breast reduction. For women,breast augmentation was the most popular surgical procedure, with almost 384,000 procedures done in the United States in 2006.

For men, liposuction was the most popular surgical procedures, with more than 53,000 such procedures done on men last year.The number of procedures on women 2.8 million was far greater than the number of procedures on men, 300,472.