Plastic surgery and cosmetic procedures booming amid COVID-19 pandemic

As summer approaches, you may not fully recognize a relative or close friend. This may be due to an uptick in Americans seeking cosmetic surgeries. As coronavirus restrictions have eased across the U.S., the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) says pent-up patient demand is fueling the industry's current boom, with interest in both non-surgical and surgical treatments increasing.

But this wasn't the case when the coronavirus pandemic shuttered the U.S. in March 2020. According to the ASPS, board-certified plastic surgeons stopped performing elective surgical procedures for an average of 8.1 weeks due to COVID-19. The society reported a decline in the total number of procedures performed last year. But Americans still spent over $9 billion on plastic surgery in 2020, according to the Aesthetic Society. Dr. Jeffrey A. Ditesheim, a plastic surgeon in Charlotte, North Carolina, says his practice saw a shift because of the pandemic. As patients feared the unknown, his office experienced a lot of cancellations.