Per Yahoo! Finance: “Board Certified Plastic Surgeon Dr. Steven L. Davis joins The Final Round to discuss the rise in plastic and elective surgeries amid the coronavirus pandemic and how his business has adapted to new operating standards.”
[Transcript]
- The coronavirus outbreak has forced some states to suspend elective surgeries and New Jersey was one of those states that made the decision to do so at the end of March. They since have resumed those procedures last month. For more than this, we have Dr. Steven Davis. He’s a plastic surgeon at Davis Cosmetic Plastic Surgery in Cherry Hill, New Jersey and Dr. Davis, Great to have you on the show. Let’s talk about the impact that COVID-19 has had on cosmetic procedures. What’s demand been like since you reopened and what are people preferring or choosing to have done at this time?
- Well, it’s great to be on the show. One of the things that I know everyone has started to realize is that when they’re on all these Zoom calls, they’re seeing themselves a lot and they start to notice that there’s a lot of things that could be improved upon. So you can imagine things like eyelids, around their face, neck skin, everything that you could see all day long when you’re on these Zoom calls, having to be things that people were dying to come back in to talk about. Right off the bat, things like Botox injections and fillers, and all those things are great. Especially if you’re wearing a mask, you could do certain things and no one even knows you really had it done. But the interesting thing to me is that during the summer months, facelifts and lasers and things like that are generally speaking, not the first thing that most people are coming in to get done now. But I think because people are working at home and they can really have the time off while they’re still working, we’re seeing a real uptick in surgeries as well.
- Doctor, I don’t know if you do consultations over Zoom, and if that’s the case or if it isn’t, I’m just wondering if you could take a look right here and sort of make some suggestions because you know, I’ve gotten some comments.
- So I’m checking you out. I was watching you.
- Yeah, so first of all, in all seriousness, do you do this over Zoom and in not all seriousness, what do I need?
- Okay, so here it is. One of the things that really got born out of this whole pandemic is the idea that I can do virtual consultations on all these patients. And I did that for about three months while we were really closed down. And it’s fascinating because it gives me an opportunity to really talk to them in their home environment. I think they’re much more relaxed. I think they feel really good about talking to me. And when they finally do come in, we have a game plan already set up and ready to go. So I think that’s really helped that. And I think I’m gonna continue to do this moving forward even though we can do everything now ’cause we’re all open here.
- I kind of feel like I should just talk to you like this, but I’m interested, what’s the male female breakdown? And has that changed during the Zoom boom?
- Great question. The female to male is still much more female. I would say there’s about 20 to 25% men are coming in, but interestingly enough, a lot of guys are coming in to get the liposuctioning procedures that they may have put all for awhile. But now that they know that they can actually get the procedure done today and literally be on Zoom calls and working from home tomorrow, we’re seeing a lot of guys coming in for liposuctioning of their chest, maybe their abdomen, love handles, things like that. So it’s actually been fascinating to me to see how many people are really excited about coming back and working on themselves. I think at the end of the day, one of the things that have come out of this whole Corona pandemic is the idea that we really have to care about ourselves and take care of things like that. And Andy, I’m still looking at you too. So you’re doing good.
- If it takes that long, it’s probably not a good thing, I’m thinking, right?
- Well, it’s all patient confidentiality and we have a lot of people on this call.
- Obey the HIPAA, obey the HIPAA!
- So I’ve just got one more question. Do people have money to spend on this? Has there been any change in that?
- Isn’t that unbelievable? That’s another great question. Yes, I don’t know, I think they’re not traveling. So I think a lot of the funds that are coming into this are based on the fact that you can’t really go anywhere on vacation right now and patients really, that I’ve seen in the past that have been trying to put this off for awhile, I’ve seen them come back to the practice and they’re deciding to do it now as opposed to push it off because they’re gonna use the funds that way as opposed to going to Europe or taking a trip with the family or doing things like that.
- Dr. Davis, I have a question for you just about how your doctor’s office and doctor’s offices in general have changed since the outbreak. Because I think of us, I have been to a few doctor’s offices since coronavirus and obviously, you notice that a lot of the procedures are different. You don’t wait in the waiting room for nearly as long. So how has COVID-19 changed the way that your business is running, if at all?
- Great. As a plastic surgeon, we’ve always dealt with sterility things and just making sure everything was safe. But for three months, that’s basically what I did. I converted the entire office to being as safe as possible. We changed all the air filtration systems in the office, the way we see patients now, again, very individual basis. And we just open rooms as they become available, no waiting room as you alluded to. But I was on a lot of international plastic surgery calls during those three months. And it was a fascinating to have best practices around the whole world really talk about how we could open up again safely so patients would feel comfortable coming back and having procedures done. So we pulled up all the floors. We repainted everything ’cause we had three months to basically work on this stuff. So I think it really is important for patients to know that it is safe and we’re doing everything to make sure that that’s exactly how it’s gonna continue.
- All right, Dr. Davis, a plastic surgeon at Davis Cosmetic Plastic Surgery. Great to get your thoughts. We really appreciate you taking the time. Thanks so much for joining us.
- [Dr. Davis] Thank you all very much.
Dr. Steven Davis of Davis Cosmetic Plastic Surgery in Cherry Hill, New Jersey wants to ensure the comfort of all patients, which begins with education. We hope our video series can provide useful information for those with upcoming appointments or interested in the behind-the-scenes action of plastic surgery.
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