The advent of selfies were a boon to the plastic surgery industry. And then came Covid, the second wave. Blame it on Zoom.
Houston plastic surgeons say people are finding how they appear through their computer’s camera in a zoom teleconference call is very different from what they’re used to seeing in the bathroom mirror. And they’d like to improve on Mother Nature. Those fine lines are more apparent. The never-before noticed droop in the eyelid.
That’s where Dr. Paul Vitenas comes in. He’s one of the top cosmetic surgeons in Houston. “The plastic surgery business has been doing well for the past ten months,” he says. Covid can take credit, in part because quarantines freed people up to recover from facial surgery privately at home without their co-workers seeing that anything had been done. But mostly, it was Zoom.
As with other doctors, plastic surgeons found Zoom provided an effective way to conduct consultations through telehealth. Their patients found their nose looked bigger than they had previously realized. Dr. Vitenas lists the top procedures. “Botox and fillers are still huge demand. Upper and lower eyelid. And rhinoplasty, for some reason people see themselves on Zoom and think ‘wow, my nose looks too big.’”
The lighting is different from the bathroom and flaws are right on the screen. "You know that little bit of extra under your chin. The crow's feet you see around your eyes when you're smiling. People become much more self-conscious about it."
A plastic surgeon in Cincinnati, Dr. Jon Mendelsohn, says requests for Botox and fillers are up 90% compared to the same time last year. When he talks to new patients for a consultation, 9 out of 10 mention Zoom.
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