By Sarah DiMuro
After a tumultuous few years, the entertainment industry is starting to get back to normal. Canceled movie shoots have resumed, long-delayed red-carpet premieres are taking place, and concert tours have been rescheduled.
But as they once again fill multiplexes and stadiums, fans might notice their favorite stars looking especially refreshed. Plastic surgery has experienced a nationwide boom, and with their schedules suddenly clear, celebrities have been eagerly visiting doctors for more — and more invasive — procedures.
“COVID and the respective closures and public restrictions have created windows for busy professionals to squeeze in procedures they’ve been wanting for years,” said Dr. Steven Williams, a board-certified plastic and reconstructive surgeon in Dublin, California. The American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery reported that 70 percent of its member surgeons saw an increase in bookings during the first year of the pandemic.
From small nose “tweaks” to full-on face-lifts in their 40s, here’s what famous faces have been getting up to under the knife — and why they didn’t let even pre-vaccine fears of COVID-19 get in their way.
From the moment TV shoots started being postponed or canceled due to the pandemic, Dr. Deepak Dugar, a board-certified rhinoplasty surgeon in Beverly Hills, California, saw actors and reality stars inquiring about surgeries.
One of Dugar’s patients is a television star who went in for “just a little tweak” to her nose. “I love my new nose — and nobody knows I had it done,” said the star, who requested anonymity out of concern that being open about her surgery could cost her work.
Other celebrities have been more vocal about their pandemic-era surgeries. The former “Dance Moms” star Abby Lee Miller, who has 4.1 million followers on Instagram, said the pandemic presented a great opportunity to get liposuction under her arms, where she had loose skin from a 100-pound weight loss during her 2017 stint in prison.
“To be honest, the saggy skin was bothering me so much that I didn’t want to wait any longer,” Miller told Insider. “I’m so happy I had it done.”
Before the pandemic, Dr. Jay Calvert’s celebrity clients would be “reticent and scared” when he suggested a major face-lift. But these days, “they have been all-in,” said Calvert, a plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills. (Like all the doctors interviewed by Insider, he declined to discuss clients by name, citing patient confidentiality.)
Masks have helped make it all possible. These days, if a celebrity wants to run an errand while still recovering from a face-lift, their face and identity can be shielded by their COVID-19 protection, hiding any evidence of incisions or bruising. That’s especially important to stars who are frequently followed by paparazzi.
Dr. Michael Newman, a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon, also said he’s seen a rise in demand for face-lifts, noting that he “had several 50-something celebrities rush in as soon as filming for their shows was put on hold.”
Calvert said he’s seeing patients even younger than that. Previously, celebrities would wait until they reached their 50s to go under the knife, he said, but since the pandemic hit, he’s performed face-lifts on people in their 40s and even late 30s. The new standard is “definitely before 50,” he said.
