LOCKED-down Brits are going under the knife to slice away double chins and remove bags under their eyes in a “Zoom boom” after spending hours scrutinising themselves during online calls.
The surge in facial cosmetic surgery saw just one London clinic double their bookings last summer as Brits were confronted with staring at their own face during online lockdown video calls.
And with coronavirus restrictions expected to last for at least another month, surgeons don’t expect the demand to drop anytime soon.
For Helen Fearon, 57, spending an hour and a half each day with clients on video calls made her notice particular features thanks to unflattering lighting and poor angles.
She said: “It’s only because of this year, because of the whole Zoom thing that I really have looked at my face and how I look.
“I didn’t like the image that was looking back at me. I think I got into month two [of lockdown] and I’d been at home for quite some time.
“I’d not been to the gym, not exercised too much, probably ate too much like everybody else and I kept trying to turn the camera away.”
Helen, who runs a virtual PA services company, decided to get an upper eye lift – and said she was delighted with the results.
The gran-of-one said the treatment – which removes excess skin from the eyelids – made her more confident, leaving her eyes “open,” “awake” and even helping her see better.
She said: “The results have been fantastic. My eyes just look so much fresher and I don’t look tired.
“It’s given me a more professional feeling. I feel more confident and I don’t mind looking at the screen now and having eye contact.”
And Helen isn’t alone, with the number of people using video calls doubling to 70 per cent of the population as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, according to Ofcom.
‘SHARP RISE’
Dr Ross Perry, who carried out Helen’s procedure, said he has seen “a sharp rise in enquiries” since the start of the pandemic as Brits took to video calls to stay social.
He said: “People are now seeing what they actually look like throughout the day and their animations rather than just the mirror in the morning.
“They may also have more time on their hands to investigate and research and they have time to recover.”
Requests at Dr Perry’s Cosmedics Skin Clinics have ranged from people wanting “their first ever botox and fillers” to those wanting “eyelids lifted and jowls softening with thread lifts”.
And his surgery is not the only one to witness the boom.
The Cadogan Clinic in London saw a 100 per cent increase in bookings in August and September 2020 compared with the same time last year, and many were booked by first-time patients.
Dr Olivier Amar, leading cosmetic surgeon and CMO of cosmetic treatment company Uvence, said: “When Britain exited the first countrywide lockdown in August, there was a huge uptick in popularity for cosmetic surgeries and treatments.
“The sudden shift to working from home has led many people to rely on video calls, which psychologically are very similar to sitting in front of a mirror all day and ultimately present endless opportunities for self-critique.”
Dr Amar says some of these bookings may have been due to a backlog in appointments following the first lockdown and believes many are simply considering their wellbeing more since the start of the pandemic.
But he believes Zoom has led to a rise in requests for certain treatments.
“When you look at Zoom you see your eyes and your neck,” he said.
“With the camera looking up, you see your double chin, if you have one, or a weak chin if you have one or a lack of definition of the jaw, and the skin texture if you have wrinkles.
“I have seen a lot of patients coming in for neck and double chin [treatments].
“We have also done more non surgical to surgical eye surgery, we’ve done more toxins to relax muscles, we have also used skin booster around the eyes and we’ve done more nano fat transfer in the volume around the eyes. People are asking about dark circles, that’s for sure.”
Jasmine Morton, 45, had a lower face and neck lift with Dr Olivier Amar after spending around 6-8 hours a day on Zoom for work.
The mum-of-two, who is a group marketing director for a financial services firm, said: “I have been working from home since March on literally hundreds of Zoom and Teams calls all day every day.
“I became more conscious of my jawline, and regularly glancing at my face in the corner of the screen. Some days I felt fine, some I felt like a hag.”
She added: “I was always going to get the surgery but after months of watching my face on Zoom (combined with the stress of the pandemic and summer term home-schooling!) – I’m sure my resolve to get the surgery strengthened.”
Last month, Trending In The News revealed a 150 per cent spike in enquiries about nose jobs and 600 per cent in weight-loss surgery.
Top clinics also said bookings had sky-rocketed leading up to Christmas as people choose to give cosmetic procedures as a gift to themselves or a loved one.
