The impact of the ‘mental health pandemic’ on aesthetic practice

What part of our lives has COVID-19 not touched? It has certainly had an impact on education (as seen by the disastrous A level fiasco), businesses (The Guardian reported that UK businesses are cutting jobs at the fastest rate seen since 2009 [Inman, 2020]) and, undoubtedly, mental health.

As well as fears of a ‘mental health pandemic’ being reported (Chaplain, 2020), the Office for National Statistics has published data on an increase in depression and depressive symptoms in UK adults through the duration of the full lockdown from 23 March to 10 May 2020, and onwards after the easing. While it is important to take this into consideration when treating patients, mental illnesses like depression and anxiety are in the mainstream media, and it is important not to forget other mental health conditions that may affect patients. Both pre- and post-lockdown, medical aesthetic practitioners may well come into contact with patients who suffer from eating disorders (such anorexia nervosa or bulimia), body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) and personality disorders. For instance, a patient with an eating disorder, despite being underweight, may seek out body contouring procedures, and a patient with BDD—a condition becoming increasingly well-known within the aesthetics industry, so I will not dwell much on this condition—may desire several non-surgical procedures to alter their appearance, and still be discontented as the actual problem (their illness) is not being addressed.