ABSTRACT
Introduction: Due to the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic, many elective surgeries were canceled, including most aesthetic plastic surgery procedures. Although studies have shown COVID-19's effect on plastic surgery in the United States, no study to date has examined the international interest in plastic surgery procedures after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, we sought to find this effect using the Google Trends tool. Material and Methods: The most common cosmetic procedures and top countries with the highest plastic surgery volume were selected from the International Society of Plastic Surgeons report and used as the search terms for Google Trends. Weekly search data from each procedure and country were collected from March 18, 2018 to March 13, 2022, split into 2 periods according to the start of the US COVID-19 lockdown, and compared. Results: Among the countries, the United States had the most plastic surgery interest after the COVID-19 pandemic, with India and Mexico closely following. On the other hand, Russia and Japan had the fewest changes in procedure interest. Regarding specific procedures, interest in breast augmentation, forehead lift, injectable filler, laser hair removal, liposuction, microdermabrasion, and rhytidectomy increased in all countries after the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusions: After COVID-19, there has been increasing interest in almost all plastic surgery procedures globally, especially nonsurgical procedures and facial plastic surgery, with the greatest increases in the United States, India, and Mexico. These results can help inform plastic surgeons which procedures to focus on and which devices or technologies to invest in that are specific to their country.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic caused many shifts in the national economy, job market, and healthcare sector, especially elective procedures such as in cosmetic plastic surgery. While there has been research in the changes in cosmetic plastic surgery since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been no study to date determining the changes in distinct sectors, such as nonsurgical plastic surgery procedures and the popular trends that may be more sensitive to changes to general public interest. The Google Trends tool was used to determine these changes in interest. Nonsurgical procedures were retrieved from the American Society of Plastic Surgery (ASPS) website, grouped into categories, such as neurotoxin, chemical peel, filler, hair removal, dermaplaning, skin laser treatment, skin tightening, and thread lift, and used as Google Trends search terms. Search term weekly data were collected from March 2018 to March 2020 and March 2020 to March 2022, divided by the start of the COVID-19 lockdown, and compared. After the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the majority of nonsurgical procedures showed an increase in interest, with the most significant changes including neurotoxin procedures especially lip Botox, filler in the chin, cheek, jawline, tear trough, lip, and nose, skin-improving treatments, non-invasive forms of body contouring, and thread lift. Brands like Dysport, Radiesse, Restylane, Sculptra, Versa, Emsculpt, and Morpheus8 showed increased interest. Most nonsurgical procedures increased in interest after the COVID-19 lockdown, with facial and skin-improving procedures showing the most increase in interest.