Consumer Insights on Plastic Surgery, Revealed

30/04/2021 Beauty & Balance

Overall bookings for cosmetic procedures fell in 2020, but previous devotees remain committed as ever in 2021.

According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, which published its annual trends report with ancillary consumer insights, all of the most commonly booked procedures (nose reshaping, eyelid surgery, facelifts, liposuction and breast augmentation) saw single or double-digit losses in 2020. For those with previous procedures under their belts, however, the majority of consumer respondents said they either spent the same amount or more on procedures in 2020 when compared to past years.

“COVID-19 affected our consumers differently. But about a third [of respondents] said they were spending roughly the same on plastic surgery procedures, and 26 percent said they spent more,” said Dr. Lynn Jeffers, former president of ASPS. “About a third said they planned on spending less in 2021.”

The focus for consumers seems to be on facial procedures, versus common body ones. “Some of our businesses also reported the ‘Zoom boom,’ where consumers are seeing their faces on big screens, as drivers,” Jeffers said.

Burgeoning interest in plastic surgery, Jeffers said, can also be attributed to shifting attitudes around injectables and procedures. “There is a lot less of a stigma than there was in the past,” she said. “It’s not just something celebrities and the elite did, but now, everybody probably knows somebody who’s had filler or Botox. It’s become part of the mainstream conversations.”

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Jeffers also thinks that as consumers focus on health, they want their appearance to align with how they feel. “I have patients say, ‘I just want to look the way I feel inside.’ It’s not really a pursuit of trying to look 20. It’s a pursuit of trying to match your external appearance with the way you feel inside,” she said.

• Of women with cosmetic procedures, 26 percent said they spent more in 2020 than in the past; 35 percent spent roughly the same amount, while 39 percent spent less.

• The majority of those who spent more on procedures credited extra disposable income from traveling less (55 percent) or typical dining and entertainment expenses (58 percent).

• Thirty-five percent of women with cosmetic procedures said they planned to spend more in 2021 on them than in 2020.

• Top five procedures include nose reshaping (-3 percent from 2019), eyelid surgery (-8 percent), facelift (-11 percent), liposuction (-20 percent) and breast augmentation (-33 percent).