The pandemic is also marking a before and after in aesthetic medicine and surgery. After a first period in which confinement and the use of masks brought a significant increase in some interventions, especially facial treatments with Botox or hyaluronic acid and rhinoplasty (nose surgery) and blepharoplasty (of the eyelids), the return to Attendance has brought with it a growing interest in all kinds of treatments and interventions, especially reactivating those aimed at combating obesity and overweight, according to the latest data from the Spanish Society of Aesthetic Medicine and the Spanish Society of Reconstructive and Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (Secpla).
“We were behind other countries and now we are witnessing what we could call the socialization of aesthetic medicine. It is becoming more and more natural to be interested in all kinds of treatments and we are finding younger and younger patients, most of whom are influenced by the effect of social networks”, explains Fernando Saenger, General Director of the Medical Option Clinic and a pioneer in the sector in Spain.
With an atomized business model, more than 5,000 aesthetic medicine centers operate throughout the Spanish geography, with a turnover of 405 million euros in the last year recorded by Secpla, before the pandemic. Of this amount, 275 million corresponded to surgical interventions and 130 to treatments without surgery. Even without official figures for 2021, all experts point out that turnover will far exceed these figures, breaking upwards the gradual and sustained growth of the previous five years.
Worldwide, the business exceeded 9,300 million, with a penetration in the United States, the main international market, of 11% per year among the female public in the case of non-surgical treatments and 2% per year also among women. women in terms of surgeries, according to the consultancy World Health Management. In Spain, penetration stands at 2% and 0.5%, respectively, and also in the case of women, figures that invite optimism to experts due to their extensive experience. The weight of male patients is also marking this pattern of growth, according to experts.
“The sector is prepared to meet the demand, which, although it follows the trends of recent years, is increasing among a younger audience. Social networks, and especially the use of filters, are greatly influencing requests for surgeries, especially in women between the ages of 20 and 40, who are more Instagram consumers, for example," says Nélida Grande, vice president of Secpla.
Among these star interventions, the different dermatological treatments that do not require surgery and those for hair removal stand out, on the one hand, and surgical treatments to combat obesity, especially liposuction and abdominoplasty, and breast augmentation. These latest surgical interventions increased between 50% and 70% in the United States in 2021, percentages that exceed the correction of the activity stoppage of 2020, according to the latest report by The Aesthetic Society.
"We try to respond to the demands that arise, applying new techniques in the case of obesity, for example, maintaining prices, because now we also have to face the weight of inflation," concludes Saenger.
