Many Americans are emerging from their home offices and quarantines looking different than before the coronavirus crisis — a trend the American Society of Plastic Surgeons called a “post-pandemic boom” in cosmetic procedures.

Bonnie Hammer, vice chairman of NBCUniversal, TODAY's parent company, noticed it after attending a maskless party outdoors with long-time friends.

“In the time since the pandemic first upended our lives, it wasn’t just the world that had changed but the faces. Lifted, plumped, and smoothed, the women at this party looked almost unrecognizable — less like themselves and more like each other,” Hammer wrote in an essay published this week in Vogue.

In a survey of more than 100 board-certified dermatologists across the U.S. earlier this year, 56% reported an increase in people seeking cosmetic consultations compared with pre-pandemic times, and 86% said their patients cited video-conferencing calls as a reason to seek care.

Dr. Arianne Shadi Kourosh, a dermatologist and assistant professor of dermatology at Harvard Medical School, called it “Zoom dysmorphia,” where people want to improve their appearance on computer screens because their looks are distorted in ways they often don’t realize.

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