Skip to main content
BoF Logo

The Business of Fashion

Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.

US Plastic Surgeons Expect Boom in Procedures Below Zoom Line

Surgeon hand taking lancet from special table in clinic
Source: Shutterstock

As more Americans get back to the office and restaurants reopen, tummy tucks and liposuction are poised for a comeback.

In a national survey of 1,000 women, one in ten indicated they are more interested in cosmetic plastic surgery or non-surgical procedures now than before the pandemic, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Almost one quarter of respondents who had a procedure in the past said they would like additional work done.

“The pandemic isn’t over, but, thanks to vaccines, a new normal is starting to define itself — and some surgeons’ offices that were closed or offered only limited services within the last year are seeing higher demand,” said plastic surgeon Lynn Jeffers, chief medical officer at St. John’s Pleasant Valley Hospital with a private practice in Ventura County, California.

Last year, plastic surgeons saw a rush in facial procedures as Zoom calls became more popular. Now consumers want to combat weight gained during the pandemic with tummy tucks and liposuction, the survey shows. Patients, who typically are women in the vast majority of the procedures, can also take advantage of discreet recovery at home amid social distancing brought about by the pandemic, surgeons said.

ADVERTISEMENT

Overall, cosmetic surgeries were down 14 percent to 2.3 million in 2020 compared with a year earlier, according to ASPS data. Very few procedures saw an increase, with two notable exceptions: buttock implants, with a 22 percent jump, and pectoral implants, up 5 percent.

Data on reconstructive surgery underscored another pandemic trend after pet ownership rocketed during the shutdowns: Dog-bite repair procedures rose 22 percent.

Among minimally invasive procedures last year, injections of Botox remained the most popular for the 18th year in a row. At 4.4 million, their number was down 13 percent from more than 5 million in 2019. For perspective, fewer than 800,000 injections were done back in 2000.

Soft tissue fillers, laser skin resurfacing, chemical peels, and intense pulsed light treatments — used to remove wrinkles, age spots or unwanted hair — rounded the top five for minimally-invasive treatments last year.

“We saw a kind of boom in a number of things — a kind of Zoom effect, where you saw people looking at themselves more critically, looking at their face,” said James Economides, a plastic surgeon at the Advanced Plastic Surgery Center in the Washington, D.C., area in Virginia.

As for this year, there’s a two-pronged effect, Economides said. “People are still teleworking so we’re continuing to see people still get the procedures that they’ve been putting off, but we’re reopening -- people are trying to kind of get ready for the reemergence into the world.”

By Alex Tanzi.

In This Article
Topics

© 2024 The Business of Fashion. All rights reserved. For more information read our Terms & Conditions

More from Beauty
Insight into the fast-evolving beauty business and lessons for the future of fashion.
view more

Subscribe to the BoF Daily Digest

The essential daily round-up of fashion news, analysis, and breaking news alerts.

The Business of Fashion

Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
CONNECT WITH US ON
BoF Professional - How to Turn Data Into Meaningful Customer Connections
© 2024 The Business of Fashion. All rights reserved. For more information read our Terms & Conditions, Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy and Accessibility Statement.
BoF Professional - How to Turn Data Into Meaningful Customer Connections