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The plastic surgery business is booming thanks to the coronavirus.
In mid-March, non-essential services such as cosmetic surgeons and dermatologists in major hubs like the Big Apple and Los Angeles were forced to temporarily close — but as they began to reopen three months later, prospective patients were quick to bang on their doors, Bloomberg reported.
Dr. Aaron Rollins, who runs a network of clinics including in New York City for AirSculpt treatment, a body-contouring alternative to liposuction, told the outlet that overall demand at his practices was 20 percent higher in July than during the same period last year.
“We’re booked for months, and it didn’t peak right when the quarantine stopped; it keeps building up,” he said. “July was the busiest month in the history of the company, and that’s the last nine years.”
The first clinics to reopen were in Atlanta and Texas at the end of April. The New York City location was the last to reopen, on June 8, according to the report.
Rollins said the “quarantine 15” — 15 pounds gained amid the pandemic — might be at least partly the reason for the increased demand. Gyms are closed and people confined to their homes are breaking out the snacks.
“Everybody is fat, and no one wants to be,” he said. “And it’s the perfect time not to be fat.”
Dr. Tracy Pfeifer, a Manhattan- and Long Island-based surgeon, told Bloomberg her breast surgery bookings are 25 percent higher than a year ago.
People are also looking to go under the scalpel because they’re seeing themselves on computer and phone screens far more often, the doctors said.
“There’s something inherently unflattering about a 30-degree, angled-upward, forward-facing camera on a laptop,” Upper East Side-based plastic and reconstructive surgeon Dr. Lara Devgan told the outlet. “I had one patient, who was previously just happy with Botox and fillers, proceed with a face and neck lift as a result of being on endless streams of Zoom calls. She saw jowls and neck folds she’d never appreciated before quarantine.”
A 42-year-old receptionist from Rockland County told Bloomberg that a recent financial boost helped her afford recent breast augmentation, tummy tuck, liposuction and skin removal procedures.
“I did save during the pandemic because there was no place to go — but mostly, collecting unemployment and the stimulus check is what helped me afford the procedures,” she told the outlet. “I had lost 150 pounds, and no amount of exercise would get rid of all my extra skin.”
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