Does plastic surgery count as medical expense?

[DoninGA · Accepted solution]

Only if -

You can include in medical expenses the amount you pay for cosmetic surgery if it is necessary to improve a deformity arising from, or directly related to, a congenital abnormality, a personal injury resulting from an accident or trauma, or a disfiguring disease.

[Critter-3]

https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc502

Operations

You can include in medical expenses amounts you pay for legal operations that aren't for cosmetic surgery. See Cosmetic Surgery under What Expenses Aren't Includible, later.

Cosmetic Surgery

Generally, you can't include in medical expenses the amount you pay for cosmetic surgery. This includes any procedure that is directed at improving the patient's appearance and doesn't meaningfully promote the proper function of the body or prevent or treat illness or disease. You generally can't include in medical expenses the amount you pay for procedures such as face lifts, hair transplants, hair removal (electrolysis), and liposuction.

You can include in medical expenses the amount you pay for cosmetic surgery if it is necessary to improve a deformity arising from, or directly related to, a congenital abnormality, a personal injury resulting from an accident or trauma, or a disfiguring disease.

Example.

 

An individual undergoes surgery that removes a breast as part of treatment for cancer. She pays a surgeon to reconstruct the breast. The surgery to reconstruct the breast corrects a deformity directly related to the disease. The cost of the surgery is includible in her medical expenses.

[SweetieJean]

It depends.  You cannot deduct most cosmetic surgeries. See:

2021 Publication 502 (irs.gov) at page 15.