Pandemic Covid-19 reacts every industry of the economy, “Kommersant Style” has gathered the opinions of experts about what is happening in plastic surgery and cosmetology, and how to change this area of health in the new reality.Dr. Michel Pfulg, plastic surgeon, founder of the clinic Laclinic-Montreux “As in most countries of the world, Swiss health authorities have adhered to the recommendations of who and EU pandemic Covid-19. Planned surgical intervention at Laclinic-Montreux, unfortunately, was banned and we stopped the activity for 6 weeks. We had to close Laclinic almost 2 months, and 17 March to 26 April, our medical operation was stopped completely. Since April 26, we were able to re-acccess the clinic, but many institutions have not opened any of their employees worked from home, patients immediately began to look for an opportunity to be operated, to use the period of quarantine for post-operative rehabilitation. Thus, the activity of the clinic resumed instantly, but mostly for local and Swiss patients with either expats living in Switzerland. Because of the closed borders we have lost foreign clients, representing more than 50% of the total. Therefore, for institutions like ours, with a large proportion of foreign clients, the financial consequences can be significant. It is possible to decrease the need for aesthetics for some time due to the decrease in purchasing power or financial losses due to coronavirus. I believe in a quick return to “normal” life when our government will come out of this political hysteria, and I don’t think that needs much change. The most popular surgeries remain breast surgery, cosmetic surgery of the face (facelift and blepharoplasty), rhinoplasty, liposuction and hair transplant procedure for men. With regard to requests for aesthetic medicine (fillers and Botox), their demand, in my opinion, will never stop — this sector continues to grow, no matter what”.Andrey Iskornev, plastic surgeon, clinic Platinental”Situation of coronavirus has shown that medicine digitaleterrestre. To minimize all risks, we fully converted the initial consultation to the online mode and it was very useful for doctor and for patient. Plastic surgery is a field of medicine where physical contact for initial consultation are not always needed. If we are talking about the plastic face and the patient lives far away, in order to determine the preliminary plan of operation, enough to communicate in the format of a video call. At this consultation we may also collect medical history of the patient, SOR��to Interoute plan preoperative tests. Thus, the clinic gets already fully inspected the patient. We once again negotiate the plan of operation immediately prior to beginning work. In the postoperative period after removal of sutures is also useful to control the condition of patients online, to make the necessary appointments and to make recommendations. Plus, we can immediately see if you need to come to face-to-face examination. Reversible lifting — it’s sort of a Bentley in aesthetic surgery, since this operation requires special skills. All the cuts in this case are made inside the mouth and implants manually grind special boron diamond shlifovannymi tips to give individual form. This operation allows to tighten the middle area of the face, lower third, to improve the General appearance of the face due to the slim working with proportions. I think that in the future the industry will continue to go towards the improvement of drugs for so-called cell bioreparation, and we are also going to do point surgery as needed. Surgery greatly rejuvenated over the past 5-8 years because of the influence of social networks. Slowly the Arsenal will include robotic systems and cellular technology.” Anton Zakharov, a leading plastic surgeon Institute of plastic surgery and cosmetology”In podkarantinnoy period, the industry expects a drop in demand in the middle price segment, as well as at the bottom, but to a lesser degree. The market of high-tech and expensive operations will not change. This is due to the structure attendance of the industry and the sustainability of our patients to external disasters. Typically, the premium segment is experiencing any shocks without major changes in the planned aesthetic operations.Decreased demand associated with a reorientation of goals and objectives for patients. In pandemic, many are losing their jobs and sources of income, so you have to postpone a scheduled operation for an indefinite time. And of course, the disruption of the transport system will continue to affect the situation. For plastic surgery typical medical tourism: many people from all over the country come to Moscow to perform plastic surgery. Patients also come from the CIS and Europe. Most often it is our countrymen. But now, in connection with the inability to move, patients will not be able to reach their doctors. Already now there are difficulties relating to medical tourists from other regions of Russia and nearby countries. This has led to a drop in attendance of plastic surgeons to 40 %.Usually in a crisis people are losing their jobs. Then, once the crisis developments are on the decline, many are turning to plastic xIrulan to perform operations in the segment of rejuvenation with the aim to gain a competitive advantage in finding a new job. Exactly the same happened in 2008, during the crisis period: then there was pronounced growth segment of rejuvenating operations in the structure attendance of our patients. We expect that now, as the crisis seriously affected the labor market will undergo a similar change in the structure of demand in plastic surgery. A jump in the segment of anti-aging operations, due to the fact that many people with previously stable job, lost it during the crisis and assume that rejuvenating surgery will help them as quickly as possible to get back into the profession and receive the benefits in comparison with other candidates. Aesthetic surgery in addition to its other direct evidence, also works towards the social adaptation of patients, which, of course, is an important factor in our work.”Dmitry Melnikov, plastic surgeon, clinic “Family””Quarantine affected the overall activity in plastic surgery, the number of patients on treatment and conditions of work of the clinics was impossible to stand aside from such a global process as a pandemic. And we can say that in the whole country the amount of plastic surgeries has decreased. But it should be noted that the impact of quarantine on the work of the clinics was different in different cities and regions of our country. The important role played by the fact that in this situation each subject of the Federation could establish their demands, including for businesses and organizations related to medicine and plastic surgery in particular. In the current reality we have adjusted the approach to inspections and consultations, much is now done online. Of course, in emergency cases, the patient has the right and ability to come to us. But if you’re not in a hurry and just need a preliminary consultation, the patient communicates with us, being at home. And it is very comfortable both for us and for patients.We can advise people who are far away from us, with demonstrations of the computer screen can all to explain in detail, to draw, to model, to give a presentation. The patient immediately sees how the result will look like plastic surgery in a particular case, the doctor can tell you about the hidden asymmetry that internal consultation is, paradoxically, harder to do. Plus remote consulting can also be called the fact that when you download pictures, the patient begins to pay attention to some details, which without a photo he would not have noticed. Photo impartial, and work with it comfortably. As for predictions for the future, they are very simple. It is unlikely that in the field of plastic surgery thatradical (or even much) will change after the quarantine and end the pandemic. Will demand the same operations as before. In the top will remain breast surgery, rhinoplasty, blepharoplasty, facial surgery, closure of defects after cancer operations. But we will need to change your job from an organizational point of view, because now we have already formed a queue, and it’s constantly growing. Therefore, we will inevitably be faced with increased demand, and have to do to prepare for it. To all patients to be given due attention.On a global scale, probably, will appear new trends and segments, and globally, the demand for plastic surgery continues. Doctors will more actively use the possibilities of remote consultation, but, as we all know, the operation could not be conducted online. In this sense, everything remains as it was.”Prepared By Irina Kirienko
