Top Plastic Surgery Trends for 2021, According to Plastic Surgeons and Dermatologists

At Bashey’s Los Angeles practice, it’s been the two busiest years he’s ever had, and he chalks it up to our new 24/7, on-camera lifestyle, which, he says, is making people “much more self-conscious now than they were before,” spurring a huge “push towards facial anatomy — things like chin, cheek and jaw” to sharpen the jawline angles and resolve a skyrocketing patient request: the “tech neck.”

“I do a lot of things in the neck in terms of injections. I do a lot of platysma band injections with toxin. Kybella can be used to tighten the jawline. You can also inject Sculptra or hyperdiluted Radiesse into the neck, which I do all the time,” Bashey says, ticking off the list. “And then thread-lifting, like pulling threads or the monofilament threads, helps a lot with the upper part of the neck as well, and radiofrequency devices improve the neck a lot, too.”

Not to mention, notes Bloom, two of the most popular dermal fillers, Restylane Defyne and Juvéderm Voluma XC, have been approved within the past year to give a little projection to the chin. “Focusing on the profile, across the board, is really hot right now,” he says. “Adding filler to the chin and anterior jawline to sharpen the jawline and improve the neck has been really, really popular.”

As Frank succinctly puts it: Patients are requesting the face-lift effect without going through a face-lift or a neck lift. To jet around the face-lift-without-a-face-lift challenge, Frank performs FaceTite, “a modern-day version of micro-liposuction on the neck,” is how he describes the quick, one-hour outpatient procedure to “get rid of the fat, tighten the skin, and improve the crepiness of the neck” with an almost unbelievably short —24-hour — recovery time.

Plastic surgeons expect a mid-year dip

Demand for plastic surgery and longer-recovery cosmetic procedures may be off the charts right now, but as more Americans get vaccinated over the next few months, they’re not going to want to spend their newfound freedom in a doctor’s office, or in recovery at home, anticipates the experts Allure spoke to. Frank expects his patients will want to be “partying like it’s 1999.”

As Sieber explains, “people have stayed at home for so long, they’re going to want to leave, to start traveling, and doing all the things they haven’t been able to do for the past year.” And when is he preparing his practice for a slowdown? “I think as soon as people are vaccinated and can travel again, they’re just going to go, they aren’t going to stick around to have a procedure.”

Dermatologists expect a return to regular skin care and treatments

On the flip side, the dermatologists we spoke with anticipate that as Americans become more comfortable resuming their old routines, skin care and injectables will take center stage. “Their purpose will change, and they’ll want to be the best version of themselves with things that take more maintenance,” reasons Frank, like injectables or a weekly series of lighter treatments, which have sharply dropped in popularity at his practice since the start of the pandemic.

“I think once the world opens up, people will be more apt to do treatments where I’ll need to see them once every two weeks for five sessions,” he says. “I think moving forward, people are going to be very enthusiastic to do things to make them feel good about themselves again, including their routine of skin care.”

Here’s more of the latest on plastic surgery:

• How Joan Kron’s Reporting on Plastic Surgery Changed Beauty Journalism

• Why Facial Plastic Surgery Is Up, But Filler Is Down During the Pandemic

• The Demand for Plastic Surgery Is Booming Despite an Ongoing Pandemic. Why?

Now watch how Alicia Keys keeps it low key with her 10-minute beauty routine: