< Previous40 | The Daily News | Latitude 29 | 2021 the offices once cosmetic surgeries re- sumed. “The interesting thing was everyone saw this surge last summer and then it remained consistent, and there’s only so much the backlog can account for,” said Alan Matarasso, a plastic surgeon and past president of the society of plastic surgeons. THE DRIVING FORCE The increased interest can be attribut- ed to a number of factors. The first is the increase in video- conferencing as people worked from home. For example, Zoom had 10 mil- lion meeting participants daily in De- cember 2019, according to a 2021 study published in Small Group Research. By April 2020, the platform saw almost 300 million users a day. Other platforms, such as Microsoft Teams, also saw a sig- nificant increase in use. The sheer number of virtual meetings meant people were forced to look at themselves much more than normal. “A lot of us have features we may not like,” Matarasso said. “But now you’re spending x hours a day on camera look- ing at yourself. You don’t normally do that in the office; you see yourself when you pass by the bathroom mirror.” But that image wasn’t always accurate. A study by researchers at Massachu- setts General Hospital published in the International Journal of Women’s Der- matology found webcams, because of how close they are, tend to make faces look rounder with wider-set eyes and a broader nose, distorting what people actually look like. And they, unlike pictures or selfies, are unedited, which many people are unused to constantly seeing. “People aren’t always happy with what they’re seeing,” Phillips said. HANGING LOOSE Then there was the effect of working at home. Many cosmetic procedures re- quire some sort of downtime, Mataras- so said. Pre-pandemic that might have meant taking time off from work and resting in loose-fitting clothing. But the pandemic made it possible to attend meetings from home while sitting in a comfortable spot in loose-fitting clothes. “After many body procedures from the breast down, you have to be wearing loose clothing initially,” he said. “So you could be wearing anything you want now and I wouldn’t know that on a Zoom.” WINDFALL FACELIFTS Before COVID, people wanting pro- cedures might have balked at the cost, Phillips said. The average cost of cosmetic plastic surgery in 2020 ranged from $167 for microdermabrasion, which removes the Dr. Linda Phillips, left, chief of the division of plastic and reconstructive surgery at the University of Texas Medical Branch, talks with Dr. Karen Lu, center, and Dr. Klara Sputova at the medical branch’s plastic surgery and aesthetics office in League City. Phillips has seen an increased interest in plastic surgery, including minimally invasive procedures such as fillers and Botox, during the pandemic. JENNIFER REYNOLDS; OPPOSITE: GETTY IMAGES2021 | Latitude 29 | The Daily News | 4142 | The Daily News | Latitude 29 | 2021 Largest selection of wigs in Texas! FEATURING Raquel Welch, Eva Gabor, Jon Renau, Rene of Paris and Estetica The Right BRA, The Right Form! by JODEE Becky’s Tanger Outlets Texas City (281) 337-1118 La Marque (409) 933-4440 Katy Mills (281) 644-4591 Houston Premium Outlets (281) 758-4011 Conroe Outlets (936) 494-0300 N 10 45 8 290 Conroe Cypress Katy La Marque Texas City STOP SNORING! Brent Patterson, DDS is a member of the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine Dr. Brent Patterson has been practicing dentistry in Galveston County for over 20 years. STOP SNORING TONIGHT! 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Instead of going on vacations or eating out at restaurants, many people stayed home, avoiding going out and inadvertently saving money in the long run. “They saved gas money,” Phillips said. “They saved parking money. So, they have more expendable income.” Millions of Americans also got several thousand dollars in government assistance meant to stimulate the economy. The combined result was that more people were able to afford the work they had wanted to get done. Many people also had more time on their hands, with no commutes to and from work. “Realistically, if people didn’t have an increased amount of disposable income and increased amount of time they can take off, they wouldn’t be doing this,” Phillips said. FACING IT The first wave of the pandemic increased the interest in facial procedures, according to the society of plastic surgeons’ study. And three of the top five cosmetic procedures for 2020 were on the face, with nose reshaping, eyelid surgery and facelifts taking the top three spots. This trend was something Phillips saw in her own office. “I suspect it’s because of viewing ourselves in Zoom,” she said. She also saw an increase in minimally invasive procedures, such as fillers and Botox. But interest in liposuction and breast augmentation also re- mained high. Those two procedures are consistently the most in demand, Matarasso said. But the increased time to recover makes them more possible during the pandemic. THE FUTURE How long the increased interest will last remains to be seen. “I just figured it would slow down in January and February,” Matarasso said “The trend has been very, very steady since the end of the lockdown.” Acceptance of cosmetic procedures has increased over the years, which also has played a role in the growing interest, Phillips said. “It’s not something where people are ashamed,” she said. With the surge in the delta variant of COVID-19, the indus- try may be hit again, though. In August, Gov. Greg Abbott asked hospitals to halt all elective surgeries as they once again filled with COVID patients. Phillips had to reschedule patients who would have re- quired an overnight stay, she said. But all of those patients have insisted on rescheduling or made arrangements to not have to stay for an extended observation, she said. “The patents have been very resilient,” she said. “Some of them have proactively called and said, ‘Hey, I’m still on, aren’t I?’” Phillips expects at least some of the increased interest to survive the pandemic, she said. “I think we’ll only continue to have more people doing it than we have in the past,” she said. TEXAS’ OLDEST NEWSPAPER We have survived through wars, recessions, depressions, floods and hurricanes. We have covered Galveston County since 1842 and continue on today as your local news source. Subject to membership eligibility. 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