As much as we may now be trained to sit on video calls and stare at our colleagues through a computer screen, many of us find ourselves constantly distracted during our daily huddles and meetings. It’s not the dog barking in the background, or the roommate making lunch over someone’s shoulder – it’s the sight of our own faces.
And the longer that video thumbnail stares back at us, the more we start to notice things. Were those crow’s feet there before lockdown? Did my nose suddenly get bigger? Is one eyebrow higher than the other?
It’s little surprise that after months of conducting conversations via video call, many of us have started to analyse – and criticize – our appearances more. Cosmetic doctors and plastic surgeons around the world – Australia, the US, the UK, Japan, South Korea – have reported surges in bookings for surgical and non-surgical treatments following lockdown. It’s being referred to as the ‘Zoom Boom’.
Here are some of the results
Cosmetic Distortions ?
This is believed to be the first large, multi-center study that prospectively analyzed the rate of adverse events among tens of thousands of cosmetic procedures done at many centers around the United States by experienced dermatologists. These procedures are used to decrease the visible facial signs of aging.
When side effects such as bruising, redness, swelling, bumpiness or skin darkening occur, they are usually minor and go away on their own, the authors report. Such minor adverse events occurred in fewer than 1 percent of patients.
For many years, there was a perception that minimally invasive cosmetic procedures are safer than larger, more invasive cosmetic procedures. However, there was little evidence to back up this belief.