Cosmetic surgeons hoping for a lift

Beverly Hills has begun to ease the Covid-19 lockdown in the way only Beverly Hills could — by greenlighting plastic surgery. A slice of the medical industry renowned for its high price tags has had its nose put firmly out of joint by the coronavirus-induced moratorium on elective surgery.

More than 20-million cosmetic procedures took place in 2018, according to the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. Just shy of a fifth of these were in the US, with a further tenth in the land of the Brazilian butt lift.

But these are not the only markets sitting pretty. About $18bn was spent on cosmetic enhancements in 2018, according to a report by Frost & Sullivan. The report was commissioned by an industry participant going public. It believes the total will rise to $52.4bn in 2023.

Surgeons hope pent-up demand will ensure full waiting rooms once restrictions on elective procedures are relaxed. Anecdotally, US surgeons who are rebooking appointments see about two-thirds of patients doing so. Lockdown has provided a new impetus for those still earning money: videoconferencing means far more upclose-and-personal views and — should it continue — more private recovery time. The problem is that many people are not earning as much as they were.

The industry has been buffeted by crises in the past, with cosmetic surgical procedures falling 9% in 2008, the year Lehman Brothers collapsed. It has also had its share of controversies. Faulty breast implants triggered a wave of litigation. The UK’s Harley Medical Group has twice entered into prepack administration, most recently in a deal that passed it to a private equity buyer late in 2019. More predictably, China’s SoYoung, a marketplace app for cosmetic procedures and commissioner of the Frost & Sullivan report, is worth half the value allotted after its Nasdaq debut in May 2019. /London, May 18

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