Long gone are the days when expensive, painful and obvious plastic surgery was the only option for aesthetic treatments. Now, non-invasive and minimally invasive procedures are becoming mainstream, with more affordable new technologies achieving a refreshed look with little to no downtime.
The recent International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery Global Survey revealed that non-invasive treatments are on the rise, with 13.6 million cases in 2019, 14.4 million in 2020, 17.5 million in 2021 and an estimated 13% increase projected for 2022.
Injectable procedures, hair removal, non-surgical fat reduction and chemical peels accounted for an overwhelming share of these numbers, and while once they were only referred to as anti-ageing treatments, more and more people are opting for softer, more natural results to look fresher, rather than remove all signs of ageing.
Minimal and non-invasive categories mostly fall into four categories: facial procedures (such as dermal fillers, injectables, microdermabrasion and peels); body contouring; hair removal; and skin devices (such as laser, microneedling, threading, and light therapy).
‘Tweakments’ on the up
When it comes to trends for this year, forecasters WGSN says it will be ‘tweakments’ that lead the charge, those non-invasive treatments and devices such as LED facials that help you to replicate the effects of a cosmetic procedure without the cost, pain and downtime.
Aesthetic treatments promising to structurally rejuvenate the skin and encourage the body’s own natural health such as Platelet-rich Plasma (PRP) are also growing in popularity, thanks to celebrity endorsement. Also known as a ‘vampire facelift’, PRP uses the patient’s own blood cells to stimulate skin cells. The injection of PRP into the skin is said to support and accelerates skin rejuvenation, stimulating new collagen production.
Other injectables, including neurotoxins and fillers, also continue to rise in popularity year on year, including existing treatments like Botox, Dysport and Xeomin, with new products like the recently FDA-approved
Daxxify predicted to appeal to established injectable users as it lasts longer. Daxxify is a long-lasting neurotoxin, with results lasting six to nine months. While it isn’t available here yet, it won’t be long.
New possibilities for fillers
There’s also growing interest around Volux, the newest of the FDA-approved hyaluronic acid (HA) fillers. Like theexisting range of Juvéderm products, Volux is a hyaluronic acid-based dermal filler, designed to replace lost facial volume. What makes it different, however, is its consistency. Unlike Volite (the lightest, good for skin hydration), Voluma (medium-weight, best used in the cheek area) or Volbella (specially created for the lips), Volux is the densest of all the fillers and is the first HA filler approved for jawline augmentation, working to improve jawline definition. The new filler is said to respond to the latest demand for facial sculpting, moving away from the trend of bee-stung lips and wrinkle-free faces to interest in a more defined appearance.
Buccal-fat removal a hot topic
Of course, with any trend, there are some extreme options (and for those who are still trying to grow their brows back from the 1990s, you know what we’re talking about). Buccal fat removal, also known as Buccal Lipectomy, has become a hot topic on social media with millions of views of videos about the topic on TikTok. Buccal fat is something that everyone has: it is a fat mass that sits under the muscles of the lower cheek of your face, but is more prominent in some people.
Buccal fat removal involves surgically removing the buccal fat to accentuate the cheekbones and create a more sculpted face. The treatment comes with a hefty warning: it’s permanent and you risk damaging nearby
structures on the inside of the mouth, such as salivary glands and nerve endings. Your buccal fat also naturally shrinks over time, so you run the risk of looking gaunt as you age or if you lose weight.
