Once the COVID-19 pandemic kicked into full gear in 2020, working from home took a larger toll on some more than others. 

Many Americans adapted to the virtual world by moving from one virtual meeting to the next, but others struggled. 

What You Need To Know

  • According to the American Society of Plastic Surgery, facelifts have seen an 8% increase since the COVID-19 pandemic

  • The Quatela Center says the pandemic gave patients more financial flexibility, recovery time from working from home and more positivity towards the stigma of plastic surgery

  • In a virtual world, some say they didn't like the looks of who was looking back at them in online meetings and sought out getting a facelift

"When I was first doing meetings, Zoom meetings and stuff, I was really completely focused on the people, and at a certain point in meetings, it gets not that interesting," Terry Moot said. 

Distractions didn’t take long to break through his focus.

“I’d turn to do something and see myself and think, 'Oh… my face. What’s my face look like?" Moot said.

All of a sudden, online meetings were more centered around getting good lighting, fixing a computer camera for a better angle, and checking your posture. 

For Moot, it turns out he didn’t like who was looking back at him. 

“One day the difference was so big that you couldn’t unsee it," he said.

Moot started to explore his options for plastic surgery at the Quatela Center for Plastic Surgery in Rochester. 

“You find little imperfections, you find things that bother you, and when you’re, you know, you have your own face kind of staring back at you these and then virtual meetings,” Dr. Alex Montague, Moot’s facial plastic surgeon, said.

Montague has watched the cosmetic surgery industry grown since the pandemic. The American Society of Plastic Surgery reports 8% more facelifts since 2019, before the pandemic. 

“We talked about other things that I might want to have done, and one of the things I wanted to have done was to buy a 62 Thunderbird convertible or get a facelift, and I ended up with the facelift and no convertible," Moot laughed. 

He had his procedure in March 2023, and Montague is thrilled with Moot’s recovery process. “

The incision for this is actually all the way around this ear, and it’s going right where my mouth is going, but you just can’t see it," Montague said.

Moot loves his results. 

“I think for 70, hell that’s not terrible," he said. 

Moot says even if it only lasts him 15 years, going in for a consultation helped change his life for the better. 

“I’ve started working with a personal trainer again because now I’m like, now that I’ve got a face to wear, I like the way it looks," he said. "I’m feeling, you know, young enough and energetic enough to continue working out. And so I think that sort of that was a spillover effect.”