The Christmas holidays are proving to be a particularly lucrative time for cosmetic surgeons around the world, with people taking advantage of the time off work to allow themselves to start healing from cosmetic procedures.
Surgeons and dermatologists queried by the Wall Street Journal said that their busiest period of the year was undoubtedly December – with some seeing a tripling of the number of procedures they carry out during that period.
New York-based dermatologist, Debra Jaliman, told the newspaper that the run up to Christmas 2011 saw her performing as many as 15 skin-smoothing Fraxel laser procedures in just one week – compared to just five procedures a week at any other time of the year.
"People like to hide out while they heal," Jaliman explained.
Facelifts also proved to be in great demand before Christmas, according to Texan plastic surgeon, Dr Franklin Rose. He treated 20 patients in the space of just under one week in the festive period, which is double the number of procedures he usually carries out.
And despite Christmas being a time of plenty and indulgence in all the food and treats available, bariatric surgeries – performed on seriously obese people to help them lost weight – saw a ten per cent increase in demand at the office of Detroit bariatric surgeon, Dr Michael Wood. He said that people seemed to be thinking more about gastric band and bypass surgery at this time of year – but that bills were also a crucial factor in the decision to choose the festive season for surgery.
"Patients do want to fly under the radar and they can do that during the holidays," Dr Wood explained. "[But] patients are more likely to have met their insurance plan's deductible limit by that point in the year."
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