key: cord-0695183-38tebi3m
authors: Braun, Sterling
title: Commentary on: The Zoom Effect: Exploring the Impact of Video Calling on Appearance Dissatisfaction and Interest in Aesthetic Treatment During the COVID-19 Pandemic
date: 2021-07-17
journal: Aesthet Surg J
DOI: 10.1093/asj/sjab287
sha: a4d204720b7f1164d7cf2a1e617b6e5d36cd1a3f
doc_id: 695183
cord_uid: 38tebi3m

nan

A c c e p t e d M a n u s c r i p t "Body-image" is central to the desire to seek Aesthetic Surgery as well as its perceived outcome. 1 Schilder, who formulated the concept of "body-image," described it as "the picture of our own body which we form in our own mind." 2 With the implementation of quarantine and distancing measures aimed to curb the COVID19 pandemic, there has been a meteoric rise in traffic on videoconferencing platforms. Zoom alone reported a thirty-three fold increase with now more than 3.3 trillion annual meeting minutes. 3 It"s fair to wonder how the development of body image will be affected by all that time spent looking at our own image.

Here, the authors provide an excellent study examining the effects of videoconferencing on self-perception and the desire to seek aesthetic surgery. In this well-designed study, a survey was distributed to participants regarding video conferencing usage and behaviors. The survey also included the Dysmorphic Concern Questionnaire (DCQ) and Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS) as surrogates for understanding self-perception. Finally, respondent interest in seeking various aesthetic treatments was evaluated.

Interestingly, the authors identify that 42.4% of respondents identified new concerns about their appearance attributable to video conferencing. 4 Extrapolated over the number of people who have begun or increased usage of videoconferencing, this represents an astounding number in the general population. The authors then further elaborated this finding through linear regression analysis, demonstrating that new appearance concerns also predicted respondents" interest in aesthetic treatments including non-surgical cosmetic treatment and grooming.

A concerning finding of this study however, is that new appearance concerns were also strongly correlated with increased scores on the Dysmorphia Concern Questionnaire (DCQ), a validated instrument for assessing the presence of dysmorphia. 5 Along with additional predictive factors including fixation on one"s own face and video-manipulation behaviors, this predicted more than one-third of the variance in observed DCQ scores. These findings support that some patients with a newfound interest in aesthetic treatments may also be at risk for dysmorphia. Thus, the authors reinforced the importance of a thorough evaluation of each patient"s motivations prior to surgery. This work sheds light on an important current topic in Aesthetic Surgery, the rise of videoconferencing during the COVID-19 pandemic. I applaud the authors for providing a robust analysis of the effects of videoconferencing on self-perception and how it may affect patients" desire to seek Aesthetic Surgery in the future.

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