The Plastic Surgery Boom Continues
- Posted on: Dec 15 2021
About six months into the pandemic of 2020, the outlook for many businesses looked pretty bleak. In the grand scheme of things, the field of aesthetic medicine and plastic surgery may have seemed irrelevant. What ultimately happened, the plastic surgery boom of 2020, surprised most of us. According to statistics, more plastic surgery and aesthetic procedures are being performed worldwide these days than pre-pandemic. Here, we discuss three reasons this trend is ongoing.
Time Out of the Office
Let’s face it, one of the most challenging aspects of having plastic surgery is that it is necessary to take a couple of weeks off work. For example, a patient interested in a tummy tuck is usually advised to take three weeks off work, and that is provided that their job is not physically demanding. This one requirement alone can take many people out of the beauty game, at least to the degree they’d like to engage. Now that so many people are working remotely, flexibility in the work schedule has increased. Patients are scheduling their procedures with the mindset of taking a few days to a week off but still checking in once a day, then resuming work as normal from the comfort of their home. The work-from-home situation has also virtually eliminated the concern about early post-operative appearance, with its swelling and bruising.
The Zoom Effect
Many employers are now heavily reliant on Zoom and other forms of video conferencing to maintain the status quo in the workplace. The Zoom Effect is what we call the awareness that people have gained of their own appearance since observing themselves on camera. If you’ve been on a video conference, you can probably relate with the challenge of trying to look at others’ faces but still being drawn to your own. At in-person meetings, we don’t have this challenge. The Zoom Effect has affected the number of BOTOX and dermal filler injections performed, and also led to an increase in interest in face and neck lift procedures. While there is such a thing as “tech-neck,” looseness and heaviness below the chin is often simply a matter of camera angle. Raising the angle or level of the camera, one need not bend their head forward and voilà! no more turkey neck!
Masks Didn’t Hide a Thing
The final factor that we believe has led to a spike in plastic surgery procedures during this time is our mask-wearing habits. Our masks may be hiding our lower faces when we’re in public (only to be seen on those pesky video calls), they have made it impossible to overlook the appearance of the upper face. With more than half of the face covered, we’re now seeing those frown lines and forehead lines more clearly. We’re seeing undereye bags and hooded eyelids, and observing how they age our face. Surprisingly, masks have also increased interest in lip fillers. In this area, the assumption is that wearing a mask makes it easier to hide the temporary swelling and bruising that can occur after lip injections.
Regardless of the reasons for the uptick in plastic surgery and aesthetic treatments, we continue to enjoy seeing the satisfaction the beauty brings to our patients. To schedule your visit to our NYC office, contact us at (212) 508-0000.
Posted in: Plastic Surgery
