THERE has been a botox boom during the COVID-19 pandemic, with Hunter plastic surgeons reporting a "significant" increase in demand for injectables and other cosmetic procedures.
Plastic surgeon Dr Nick Moncrieff, of Hunter Plastic Surgery, said while demand for both their surgical and non-surgical services - such as botox and fillers - had increased by about 30 per cent, their capacity had not.
It meant many clients were waiting longer than usual for an appointment.
"We are seeing that with our colleagues, not just in Newcastle, but across the nation," Dr Moncrieff said.
Some have hypothesised the increased demand is due to people looking at themselves on Zoom calls and identifying issues they would like to address.
But Dr Moncrieff said they had not yet had any clients cite that as a reason for seeking their services.
"At the moment, people have the ability for discretionary spending, but they have fewer things to spend money on," he said.
"Our patients are telling us they can't go overseas, that their second holiday has just been cancelled, so they are wanting to do other things instead that make them feel good about themselves."
The fact a lot of people were still working from home meant recovery from some procedures was a little easier.
"Now they are thinking they may only need a few days off, rather than weeks, because their work is now online," he said.
"And then the government's stimulus money is still flowing through the economy. Will it be different early next year? Yeah, it might be."
Registered specialist plastic surgeon Dr John Newton, of Cosmetic Plastic Surgery, said he had also noticed a surge in demand for both surgical and non-surgical services.
He said there has also been a backlog of people who had been unable to have procedures during the tighter restrictions.
"I have been very busy and doing an increased amount of facial cosmetic surgery," he said.
"But I think it's actually across the board, across all specialties. Not just plastic surgery.
"But we have been busy, especially in some of the cancer work.
"We are seeing an increase in difficult cancers, and we'll see more.
"Cancers have been given two or three months to develop because people weren't going to their GPs."
The rise in popularity of cosmetic surgery has prompted the Australasian Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (ASAPS) to warn consumers about the dangers of having invasive procedures carried out by medical practitioners not registered as "surgeons".
It comes following the suspension and deregistration of Dr Leslie Blackstock - a Sydney doctor who performed procedures ASAPS says he was not legally qualified or registered to do. He had received a slew of complaints about his surgical outcomes and practices, including from people living within the Hunter.
"It should be noted that he has never been registered as a specialist plastic surgeon," Dr Naveen Somia, president of ASAPS, said. "He deceived the public by using a fake title, and disrespected the practice of cosmetic surgery."
ASAPS urged the public to know the difference between those who portrayed an impression they were registered surgeons by using the title of "cosmetic surgeon", and the only practitioners appropriately qualified and registered to perform cosmetic surgery - registered specialist plastic surgeons.
