Doctors in South Africa, the continent's coronavirus epicenter, expected to be busy as the virus ravaged its way across the Rainbow Nation. But one type of doctor is seeing an unexpected boom in demand: plastic surgeons, who say that the combination of lockdown-imposed isolation and South Africa's world-class medical technology is causing a rush of people who are quietly changing their appearance.
It's the same trend that aesthetic surgeons are seeing in the U.S., Japan and elsewhere.
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"There's definitely been a flood of people coming through," said South African physician Dr. Saadia Laher, "and again, that's mostly because a lot of people are still at home. They also are very aware — I think when something like a pandemic hits you, you kind of realize that we are all here on limited time, and you want to make the most of everything. And if that means feeling better about yourself then, why not?"
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At the Johannesburg hospital where Laher works, patients are monitored for any signs of coronavirus. They receive COVID-19 tests before their cosmetic procedure, and are kept in separate wards from ill patients.