• Pramod Goel
  • Jul 20, 2023

People always seek ways to look fresher and younger. This urge increased several notches higher during COVID-19 pandemic due to more time being spent at home and non-stop video calls on platforms like Zoom.

As the U.S. border is open for emergency travel including medical care, plastic surgery clinics have remained open. Cosmetic surgery and aesthetic procedure clinics have seen a major boost in patients coming for simple treatments such as lip fillers, facelifts, nose surgery, chemical peel and botox to major cosmetic procedures such as mommy makeover, tummy tuck, breast augmentation and liposuctions.

“I decided to get lip filers and liposuction done in Cancun during quarantine because it gave me the much-needed time to heal at my own pace without letting the world know what work I have done,” said Amelia Davis, a freelance designer in San Diego.

According to a cosmetic surgeon in Mexico, mostly people are now working from home so they don’t need to worry about stepping outside during the recovery period.

Rising Demand for Plastic Surgery amid Pandemic

The experts predict that the demand of these procedures will continue to rise in the next 24 months. At the beginning of the pandemic, people were obviously nervous. However, more locals started to visit nearby clinics once they started to feel comfortable and safe to have surgery despite the COVID scare.

The number kept on rising and gradually inquires from international patients also started to increase especially at the clinics located in Mexico, Turkey, Colombia, Dominican Republic, and Thailand. Also, there has been a significant increase in the online inquiries since almost every clinic offered online consultations that helped people to prepare in advance for a trip after the travel restrictions will be over.

Why Cosmetic Surgery Demand is Rising amid Pandemic?

1. Zoom Meetings Contributing to the Demand

With the rise of work from home, people are forced to confront their unfiltered reflections on constant Zoom meetings. Traits that people never noticed before are now constantly being exposed due to unfortunate angles, awkward crops and bad lighting. This is driving a lot of demand for cosmetic procedures as no one has looked at themselves in this way for such a prolonged period. Plastic surgeons and cosmetic doctors around the world are also calling the trend “Zoom Boom,” which is heavily driving interests for non-invasive procedures like fillers, botox and skin resurfacing that tackles fine lines, wrinkles and droopy appearance. Apart from that, there’s also demand for cosmetic surgery procedures such as facelift, nose surgery and even tummy tuck and liposuction.

2. Longer Post-Surgery Recovery Period without Getting Noticed

The biggest spike in cosmetic procedures is always seen during vacation periods. Though the COVID-19 pandemic cannot be considered as a vacation, it necessitated work from home and granted anamazing stretch unintentionally, which means no one will know about the post-surgery recovery. This is one of the key factors that has spiked up the demand for procedures like nose surgery. As the pandemic has rescheduled social calendars and boosted the work-from-home culture, it appeared as an extended break for people to stay at home. Of course, whenever they ventured out during the healing period, they had their face masks covering shiners, splints and swelling. So, it was more like no-one-has-to-know recovery.

3. Pent-up Demand due to Months of Shutdown

There has been a huge backlog as patients couldn’t access the clinics when offices were closed due to months of shutdown. As the border started reopening and vaccination drive going across the globe, people are now ready to get their long-due procedures completed. According to industry experts, people are slowly gaining confidence to travel for elective procedures like cosmetic surgery, the demand is steadily rising and it is going to boost further post-COVID.

Challenges that Plastic Surgeons and Cosmetic Surgery Clinics Need to Overcome

The rise in demand also brings a rise in competition. Also, financial stability is one of the major challenges that cosmetic surgery clinics and plastic surgeons are facing due to months of shutdown. In such a scenario, rising demand is a good sign, but it is very important to engage customers by increasing their knowledge and building trust.

Plastic surgery customers are now looking for retail-like buying convenience where they can compare and choose an affordable solution. It is essential for the providers to establish as a trustable brand by improving on transparency, which includes several factors such as:

  • Cost of the treatment
  • Brand value
  • Surgeon experience
  • Surgeon certificates
  • Before and after pictures
  • Peer reviews
  • Videos of the clinic, procedures, testimonials, etc.
  • Social media presence
  • Extent of online activities
  • Pre-care – in-patient – post-care

What Cosmetic Providers should do?

Cosmetic providers need to tap the growing demand of this big market of global cosmetic procedures. They can do that by providing education, bringing transparency and communicating one-on-one with the consumers.

What patients need nowadays is a hybrid experience. The providers must inform consumers about the treatment procedure, cost, recovery time, possible complications, doctor’s experience, etc. through effective means of communication. Incorporating online consultation can be a useful medium to overcome this challenge. If the patient can directly interact with the plastic surgeon or an expert from the clinic, it is easier for him/her to ask direct questions and clear all the doubts. Once, the patient gets a clear picture, the chances of booking treatment increase.

Also, patients want to be aware of everything before they book a treatment. Communicating directly with them is the key to succeed in this vast self-pay market and for that incorporating omnichannel communication via emails, SMS, messaging, chatbots, etc. can be especially useful robust omnichannel communication can help providers improve transparency, flexibility, and consistency, which will gradually lead to increased sales.

Whether it is Zoom boom, pent-up demand, or recovery in privacy due to the pandemic, the demand is high for plastic surgery and the providers must make the best moves to drive more patients. PlacidWay, as the leading medical tourism marketplace, can help to acquire and retain plastic surgery customers by incorporating innovative digital marketing solutions. This is the time to market services smartly and establish a superior brand image by strengthening reputation.


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