What’s that you’re hearing? It’s the sound of phones ringing in the offices of cosmetic surgeons and aesthetic professionals across Australia and around the world.
Patients who have been enhancement-deprived for months now are making enquiries about booking procedures when the lockdown ends.
When will that be? Costhetics doesn’t know. We wish we did. What we do know are the chart-toppers in terms of what people want…even if they can’t get it just yet. Our source: a member survey conducted by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), the world’s largest organisation of board-certified plastic surgeons. The survey sheds light on what procedures are top of mind amongst patients today and assesses whether the mindset on preferred treatments has shifted.
Cosmetic Surgery Patients’ #1 Question: Have You Been Sterilised?
It’s one thing to make sacrifices for your beauty. It’s quite another thing to sacrifice your life. When lockdowns are lifted, patients say their first and foremost question will be whether cosmetic practices are following safe guidelines regarding:
- Screening
- Testing
- Distancing
“They also want to know about the sterilization protocols we are using in the office and in the surgery center,” plastic surgeon Martin O’Toole told American NewBeauty. Costhetics is an advocate of the Safety First approach and encourages patients to walk away from any practice that makes them uncomfortable in any way.
Dreaming of Tomorrow: Top 2 Facial Enhancement Picks
Many Australians are using the extra time they have on their hands to research cosmetic surgery and enhancement. Another factor fuelling Google searches into self-improvement is likely to be the amount of time quarantined individuals spend looking at themselves during phone calls and Zoom conferences. ASPS members report their clients are seriously jones-ing for:
- Anti-Wrinkle Injections – 65% of doctors’ patients want to “stick it” to their wrinkles as soon as possible. In fact, this medical treatment is the most popular non-surgical cosmetic treatment in the world. Why? Anti-wrinkle injections have a well-earned reputation for stopping wrinkles before they start to help keep facelifts and other more invasive solutions at bay.
- Soft Tissue Fillers – 37% of patients want to add volume to deflated areas of the face, including lips, cheeks, and even earlobes. The jawline is the most recent facial feature to be given the green light for volume augmentation.
Body Dearest: 3 Wanna-Have Surgeries
It’s not all about the face right now, however. Three of the spots in the ASPS’ most-requested top five procedures are occupied by body contouring surgeries. It makes sense. Normally fit Americans, like Australians, are now beset by expanding tummies, bottoms, and the like due to a home-bound sedentary lifestyle. (The Tim Tams for breakfast and Gaytimes at midnight aren’t helping either.)
New curves are popping up all over, leading a rush of questions about:
- Breast Augmentation – Almost half (44%) of enquiries from patients addressed breast augmentation. Typical patient’s questions focus on size, shape, downtime, and cost.
- Liposuction – One in three patients (33%) want doctors to contour their bodies by removing fat.
- Abdominoplasty – Just under a quarter (24%) of patients enquired about this always-popular surgery. A tummy tuck strategically removes fat and skin from the abdominal area, often serving as the centre piece of pregnancy makeovers for mums and dads.
Other enquiries encompass a wide range of concerns from head to toe:
- Eye lifts (In a masked world, the eyes have it)
- Nose jobs
- Non-surgical fat reduction
Remember: The Office Is Closed, but the Doctor Is In
In-office visits have ground to a halt for plastic surgeons, cosmetic surgeons, and aesthetic professionals during the pandemic. True to their vow of professional service, they remained hard at work on behalf of their patients. According to the ASPS:
- 68% of respondents saw patients virtually because of COVID-19
- 64% of respondents saw an increase in telemedicine consultations during the lockdown
Choose Wisely
Costhetics wants to offer a tremendous round of applause to everyone within the beauty community for the work they are doing in our unprecedented situation. Already masters of their craft, providers are being called upon to learn and implement a complete new set of rules for the “new normal.” Manufacturers are discovering smarter, safer ways to create and distribute their product. As for consumers, are hat is off to you, too, for everything you’re doing right in a situation that feels so wrong.