Noninvasive Procedures Boost Cosmetic Treatments

For plastic surgery procedures to become commonplace, there needs to be a cultural shift that allows people to talk freely about it, says Frank Rosengaus, Medical Director of Ultimate Médica. “In other countries, cosmetic interventions have become a sort of social event. Everybody talks about them openly. However, in Mexico we have a cultural barrier.”
Hoping to take advantage of the expected boom in cosmetic surgery specified by the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS), Ultimate Médica specialized in noninvasive aesthetic treatments and cosmetic plastic surgery. ISAPS ranks Mexico fourth in terms of its expectations regarding cosmetic treatment volume concentration. However, Ultimate Médica has not seen these hopes come to fruition. “In other countries, aesthetic procedures have proliferated thanks to a cultural change. South Korea has become a mecca for plastic procedures, particularly Seoul as it attracts medical tourism from other Asian countries.” However, this change in South Korea did not come easy, says Rosengaus. “Important popular icons started talking freely about the subject, which changed society’s perception.”
Though a cultural change is necessary, it is also important to address the perceptions that people have about cosmetic procedures. “We need to limit the effects that exist when these procedures go wrong,” says Rosengaus. Social media has played a key role in making bad procedures go viral. “In Mexico, there is a great deal of fear regarding lip procedures because of cases in the US where treatment results were not ideal. We spend a lot of time explaining to people that these negative results are less than 1 percent of the total treatments.” Controlling the negative consequences of these procedures might be difficult at times but Rosengaus says that adequate enforcement of existing regulations can go a long way. “Governments are being more careful when defining who can do what. Whoever wants to perform these procedures needs to prove that they have the proper training and the necessary certifications,” he says. Mexico has proper regulations; the problem is enforcing them correctly, according to Rosengaus.
Technological improvements and making procedures easier could also provide a big boost to cosmetic procedures. Although new technologies can be more expensive as they penetrate the market, they become cheaper. “Cosmetic procedures are becoming more affordable; they are standardized and commoditized, which helps the market grow,” says Rosengaus. Noninvasive procedures will be the main drivers for growth in this market, he adds. “People do not want to spend time and money in recovery. They want procedures to be painless, fast, reliable and inexpensive.”