The $12 billion to $20 billion cosmetic-surgery industry had been tracking with the economy, taking a major hit last fall.

But the industry started making a comeback in the spring, spurred by doctors’ reduced rates and a sense the economy’s death spiral may be slowing.  Although they are not the only generation that has embraced cosmetic procedures, baby boomers are helping spur the trend.

Cosmetic surgery covers scores of procedures, and demand for them is expected to grow 8.4 percent annually through 2012, with less invasive procedures such as Botox growing the most quickly, according to a September 2008 study from the Freedonia Group, an international research firm.

Getting a chemical peel or laser skin resurfacing requires less recovery time, less scarring and less money than so-called invasive procedures, such as a tummy tuck or breast augmentation. Many of the less expensive, less invasive undertakings are performed with a syringe or a sponge instead of a knife.

Many cosmetic surgeons have been offering discounts and specials to lure patients.

“It’s tough because 90 percent of what we do is elective. People have been more scrutinizing and resistant to spending money,” said Jacob Haiavy, a surgeon and medical director of Inland Cosmetic Surgery in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.

Haiavy’s own practice was down 40 percent between October and February compared with the same five-month period in 2007-08. These days, his business is still off, but only by 10 percent, thanks to the month-long specials he’s been offering. Patients who came in for a tummy tuck got a $1,750 liposuction treatment free, for example.

“Once somebody decides they’re going to have cosmetic surgery, it’s something they’re going to do,” said Jean Loftus, a cosmetic surgeon based in the Cincinnati area. “It’s not ‘if. It’s ‘when.’

“Other discretionary things you sometimes go, ‘Gosh. I could live without that,’ ” she said. But “the whole reason cosmetic surgery works is because people are willing to spend money to change something in their body that changes the way that they feel about themselves.”

That’s why Loftus thinks cosmetic surgery “will pick up sooner than the rest of the economy.”

The numbers seem to support her belief. There were 12.1 million cosmetic procedures performed in 2008, says the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. That reflects a 9 percent decline in surgical procedures but a 5 percent increase in minimally invasive procedures.