Do Mormon women have more cosmetic surgery than non-Mormon women?

Last updated on: March 18, 2017 at 9:08 pm by Dan Peterson

Crystal Cove from the air — Ha! You really thought this family-friendly blog was going to post an outrageous image representing cosmetic surgery? Not a chance. But my bet is that there’s an awful lot of such surgery to be found in the Newport Beach area. Speaking of which: We had a wonderful dinner tonight, with friends, at the Beachcomber, right on the sand at Crystal Cove (shown here in a Wikimedia Commons public domain aerial view). The crab-stuffed salmon and the Chilean sea bass were fantastic, and the beignets were to die for. Shortly thereafter, we watched the sunset from Corona del Mar, just a short distance to the north.

I’ve seen this charge (that Mormon women go in for cosmetic surgery at a stupendously high rate) a fair number of times. It’s often intended to illustrate how dysfunctional and phony Mormon culture is.

Of course, it’s wrong — as such accusations often do — to conflate Utah culture with Mormon culture. First, a significant proportion of Utah residents, particularly in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, aren’t practicing Mormons or even Mormons at all. Second, the majority of Mormons don’t live in Utah.

But does the charge hold true in the first place? Even in Utah?

Jana Riess takes a look at the claim: