Aesthetic concerns are core business

Australians are increasingly accessing cosmetic procedures, but exact numbers are unknown as statistics are not required to be reported. In the US, 15.6 million cosmetic surgical and non-surgical treatments were performed in 2020. After years of annual growth over the past two decades, the number of procedures decreased by about 15 per cent in 2020 predominantly owing to the impacts of COVID-19. It appeared that aesthetic procedures rebounded in the second year of the pandemic (2021) with surgical procedures increasing 54 per cent and non-surgical procedures increasing 44 per cent. In Australia, there were reports of people accessing their superannuation to finance cosmetic procedures during the pandemic. In terms of the most popular procedures in women and men, liposuction and botox were the top surgical and non-surgical procedures respectively, with 36–50 the most common age group to undergo procedures. With this focus on cosmetic concerns, it is important for psychologists to note at-risk groups, the implications for psychology and our role in treating negative body image.