FRIDAY, Aug. 14, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- People whose only contact with the outside world is Zoom are taking a close look at themselves and flocking to plastic surgeons for face-lifts and eye lifts, The New York Times reported Thursday.
"I have never done so many face-lifts in a summer as I've done this year," Diane Alexander, M.D., a plastic surgeon in Atlanta, told The Times. She had done more than 250 procedures from May 18 through the end of July. "Pretty much every face-lift patient that comes in says: 'I've been doing these Zoom calls and I don't know what happened but I look terrible,'" Alexander said, adding that: "This is the weirdest world I live in. The world is shut down, we're all worried about global crisis, the economy is completely crashing, and people come in and still want to feel good about themselves."
The trend is surprising in a bad economy, because cosmetic surgery is not covered by insurance and procedures can cost up to $25,000 for a full body makeover, $3,300 for eyelid surgery, and $10,000 for breast lift and enhancement, The Times reported. Patients report they are using money they would have spent on travel, concerts, sports tickets, and the like.
Lynn Jeffers, M.D., president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, told The Times that the nationwide "demand is definitely busier than what we had expected," though she added: "What we don't know is if the pent-up demand is transitory, and will go back to normal, or will even dip."
The New York Times Article
