The lipstick index is a term coined by the son of the founder of Estée Lauder claims that lipstick sales could be inversely proportionate to a thriving economy. It speculated that women substitute cosmetics for more expensive indulgences like expensive bags or trips when their budgets are tight.

The pandemic is the first time since the ’50s that trauma and economic downturn didn’t cause an increase in sales of lipstick – the lips have been covered with masks… but it may have increased the interest in med-aesthetic treatments.

With so much work going online, on Zoom and other applications, most of us spend most of our time looking at our faces. Some of us had already experienced being afraid to look at our faces as they seemed to deceive us as the years went by. We have almost doubled our life expectancies as humans over the last century and have certainly multiplied the value we associate with all our expectations of life after 40. We need to feel confident. We need to feel ourselves. This is why most persons seek aesthetic medical treatments which bust away wrinkles and restore volume with fillers and the such.

Did the pandemic reveal that we in fact only do these treatments for ourselves? To consolidate the outward with our inwards? Our looks with what we feel inside? We had nowhere to go, no one to please, we met no strangers, no one to have to leave physical good first impressions on.

The aesthetic medical world deals with repair, restoration and beautification but it also deals with overcoming trauma, restoring confidence and positive transformations.

During the pandemic, the beautification and enhancement aspects decreased. The ‘if only’ aspect decreased except for post menopausal peri-oral restoration in women who experienced near complete loss of lip shape and volume and barcode lines around the lip where bone density in the jaws decreased, leading sometimes to teeth loss causing backward recession of the area around the mouth. This was due to the fact that most patients seeking restoration of this area are very adamant to do so discretely, so post-treatment a clean surgical mask proved very effective at hiding any latent signs of having had the procedure done from the world!

In combination, the flexibility to work from home, and the mask served to give clients the courage to make decisions about treatments they had long been thinking of having done.

Restoration of confidence, in line with our expectation of a long life expectancy and good quality of life is part and parcel with a good bill of health.

To perceive yourself as ‘beautiful‘, in terms of harmony, proportion and the appearance of ‘healthy’ uniformly toned skin is an inevitable wish of every human. To see that the idea that the desire for personal beauty is for the satisfaction of the self, to reinforce the will to enjoy life has been reinforced during a time of isolation, shifting paradigms and values and self reflection is a reassuring thought for the aesthetic doctor.

For more information on med-aesthetic treatments, visit People and Skin’s website at www.peopleandskin.com

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