Lipo LAD, “Tech Neck” correction and Zoom Effect. The names of aesthetic procedures refer to a digital life that was consolidated with the pandemic. After a period of falling demand due to the health crisis, doctors see offices and surgical centers increasingly full.
While some believe that the pace seen before the coronavirus is being resumed, others say the search came after frustration with less invasive procedures. Specialists and activists consider, however, that the decision must be based on physical and mental well-being: understanding that bodies are not the same and that aesthetic changes should not be determining factors for quality of life.
According to a survey carried out by the Sheet in Google Trends, which analyzes the popularity of terms searched on the platform, procedures such as Lipo LAD and even “butt lift” were searched in all states of the country in the last year. After a slowdown that brought demand to zero in 2018, these two had peaks in 2019 and 2020, and since February 2021 they have been in constant search again.
The increase is even greater when associated with the name of influencers such as G-Kay and singer Naiara Azevedo.
According to surgeon José Octavio Gonçalves de Freitas, president of SBCP-SP (Brazilian Society of Regional Plastic Surgery of São Paulo), this growing surgical movement in Brazil is noticeable in clinics and hospitals. He says he sees a resumption of plans postponed by the pandemic.
“Hospitals that only performed surgeries had a 50% drop due to lack of demand [na pandemia] and the mixed ones had their beds occupied by Covid-19 patients”, he found.
Plastic surgeon Fernando Salgueiro, 38, a member of the SBCP and ASPS (American Society of Plastic Surgeons, in Portuguese), attributed the phenomenon to the disappointment of patients with the promises of minimally invasive, very popular and accessible in private clinics during the pandemic.
“The aesthetics industry has increasingly developed in-office treatments with the noble intention of delaying surgical approaches. But marketing treats them as miracle treatments, which eliminated surgery. And time and patients have shown that it is not true, that the facial surgeries will be necessary at some point”, says Salgueiro.
Excessive invasive procedures and poorly performed procedures, according to the two surgeons, have caused a wave of deformities and complications.
“Beautiful marketing unfortunately can hide an inexperienced professional. Ask the professional and the influencer on social networks. And go through a consultation, sometimes with two or more professionals. Ask all questions before choosing to perform any treatment”, suggested Salgueiro.
An example is the butt lift, which gained space in the United States, according to The New York Times, but has fallen into disuse here. The explosion of surgeries to enlarge the buttocks with liposuction fat injection took place mainly in Miami, where prices are more affordable and there are inns specializing in recovery from plastic surgeries.
In Brazil, Freitas sees patients seeking removal of grafts and silicones because they are moving and causing pain, among other problems.
Regarding limits, the surgeon is direct: one should only inject and operate with those who know how to treat the possible problems that may arise in an operation.
“Listen to the surgeon and the dermatologist. If the first professional contraindicates you, you go to a second one and he also contraindicates it, don’t look for the third one. will go wrong”, says the doctor.
Businesswoman Ana Paula Della Motta, 37, underwent a mastopexy (correction of sagging breasts) in 2018 after receiving a referral from a friend and consulting three doctors.
“It was always my dream to have this surgery and after I had my children I felt this need even more. I didn’t feel beautiful, I was very ashamed. After the surgery I’m more confident, I can look in the mirror in a more loving way with myself”, she says. .
Motta needed help for two months with simple tasks around the house, but he didn’t regret it. “For me it was really worth it, I give a lot of strength to those who don’t feel good about some detail of their body. If you’re not happy and you have the opportunity, do it.”
Psychogeriatrician VinÃcius Faria, one of the founders of the Bem Te Quero 60+ platform, which brings together professionals and services for the elderly, including aesthetic surgeries, says that plastic surgery, at all ages, must be free from social pressures, seeking perfection or eternal youth. For him, physical and mental well-being should be a priority.
“It’s another resource for those looking to age well. Surgical procedures are a way to enhance natural beauty in a healthy and harmonious way, strengthening the emotional side, also providing an increase in self-esteem”, he said.
For the specialist in cognitive behavioral therapy Michele Cristina Nossa, the biggest problem is not the surgery, but the culture that infinite procedures and invasive remodeling can give a person the possibility of being more successful based on their appearance.
“The objective is to break the belief of success in terms of external beauty. But society still has difficulty in separating one thing from the other”, says the psychologist.
She points to “body positivity”, a social movement focused on the acceptance of all bodies, as something that can balance the demands.
“It’s a matter of well-being. The care we have to take is with the size of the body distortion that the person has. We all have a mental representation of our body, however, the limit is how much body change interferes with the quality of life. life and if there is a dependence on these procedures to be happy”, says Nossa.
Alexandra Gurgel, founder of the Free Body Movement and author of two books on the subject (“Pare de se Odiar” and “Comece a se Amar”, both from the Best Seller publisher), began cosmetic procedures at the age of 23, when she underwent liposculpture, “butt lift” and put silicone. Months later, however, she attempted suicide.
“I spent my life wanting to be thin, to be standard. When I got through the surgery and saw myself in the mirror, in quotes, perfect, that didn’t make sense in my head”, she says.
Gurgel argues that the Free Body Movement is just beginning, while the culture of cosmetic surgery has always existed. He also stated that this is not about romanticizing obesity. “It’s just the freedom to be who you want to be.”
For her, the new techniques are just to attract public, selling the promise of a perfect body. The activist recalls that there are many successful cases, but that there are also those that have gone wrong, citing as an example the influencer Thaynara OG, who had serious complications and ended up in the ICU for a week after undergoing an LAD lipo in March 2020. .
“At no time is the movement against having a bariatric surgery, putting on a botox. It’s not about not wanting to change your body, not having plastic surgery, but understanding that you can be free with your body, that you don’t have to be a certain way. .”
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