Are you ugly? Do you want to have cosmetic surgery? If you’re looking for approval, then it’s okay to get it done: a study released today says that America’s approval of cosmetic surgery higher now than it’s ever been.

The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery has released it’s 10th Consumer Attitudes Study The study has been taking the nation’s pulse for the past decade, charting the American public’s general feelings toward cosmetic surgery in a variety of areas.

Following a 10-year trend of increasingly positive results, the study’s 2007 edition finds the nation’s approval of cosmetic surgery to be at an all-time high.

According to the February 2007 report of 1000 Americans aged 18 and above, 62% of respondents are in favor of cosmetic surgery. This marks an 8% increase from 2006, and narrowly edges out the 61.8% approval rate in 2001, making it the highest reported approval rating since the survey was implemented.

Other key findings of the study include:

- At 61% and 63%, respectively, men and women are almost as likely to approve of cosmetic surgery, while females are 16% more likely to consider plastic surgery than men.

- Senior citizens age 65 and above are 11% more likely to approve of cosmetic surgery now than they were in 2006.

- Americans between the ages of 18-24 are more likely to approve cosmetic surgery than those in any other age group.

The study was commissioned by the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) and conducted by the independent research firm Synovate.

According to 2006 ASAPS Cosmetic Surgery Statistics, last year women had over 10 million surgical and nonsurgical cosmetic procedures (92 percent of total), and men had nearly 1 million procedures (8 percent of total). Overall, there was a 1 percent increase in the total number of cosmetic procedures performed. To access the complete 2006 ASAPS Statistics, go to http://www.surgery.org/press/statistics-2006.php