Recent reports reveal that plastic surgeons in the city Bengaluru are seeing a sharp rise in the number of consultations over the past few weeks. Additionally, hospital managements, which had recorded a drastic drop in appointments the past year, are reporting a reversal in the trend of the past year. A chief plastic surgeon from a hospital in Bengaluru, reported a demand for procedures such as hair transplants, rhinoplasty, body sculpting, fat reduction, breast reduction and augmentation. There is also a pressing demand for botox, filler and facial makeovers.
All precautions for COVID-19 are in place and quick-in-and-out procedures such as botox, fillers, and non-surgical body sculpting are conducted in the OPD. Hospitals conduct COVID-19 antigen tests for local anaesthesia surgeries and RT-PCR for the general anaesthesia procedures.
Surgeons had not anticipated these rising number of requests, since not all the populous has been vaccinated yet. However, numbers are yet to pick up to pre-COVID-19 levels. A lead and senior consultant, plastic surgery, said that in the last couple of weeks, they had seen a 10 per cent increase in the number of people opting for elective surgeries. It is believed that this is also partially due to the fear that a second wave might occur – so patients feel it best to do procedures while able.