According to the American Society of Plastic Surgery, the industry has seen a 19% spike since before the COVID-19 pandemic. Breast reductions are leading the trend with 54% more procedures since 2019. Tummy tucks are also up 37%, liposuctions are up 23% and facial procedures are up 19%.

Plastic surgeons at the Quatela Center in Rochester say more flexibility in their patients' schedules since the pandemic is partially to blame. For example, working from home has helped them with recovery time, or paid time off, financial obligations shifted since the pandemic while many received more stimulus checks and were spending less money on large vacations. 

Overall, the center also says the stigma towards plastic surgery has changed, and more patients have adapted a “why wait?” mentality. 

“This attitude seems to be that, yes, they have more time and maybe some more dispensable income, their expendable income, but I think theater thing is they just don’t want to wait anymore," Dr. Heather Lee, a facial plastic surgeon at the Quatela Center, said. "And there’s something about the pressing of now and having control and autonomy of that.” 

Terry Moot has recently had a facelift. He says his thought process throughout the pandemic shifted to allow him to pursue things that would make him happy, while he still could. 

“I really had a mindset of, like, take advantage of what modern medical procedures can give you a quality of life that our ancestors wouldn’t have had," Moot explained. 

A deciding factor that pushed him to go in for a consultation involved how he appeared on camera while working in a virtual world during the pandemic. 

The Quatela Center says that unease is not uncommon. The American Society of Plastic Surgery reports facelifts alone have seen an 8% increase.