Welcome to your winter edition of Aesthetic Medical Practitioner magazine – completely produced by the Bella team ‘working from home’. The voracity and global scale of COVID-19 has been sobering for us all on so many levels – lives have been lost, physical and emotional wellbeing has been tested, and businesses have faced unprecedented challenges.

In the wake of the pandemic here in Australia, our industry is still settling in to a ‘new normal’ with skeleton staff, changes to appointment scheduling, exhaustive safety protocols and patient screenings all part of it. In light of this, this issue features a ‘Covid-19 Comeback Kit’ (page 24), a Special Report on comprehensive consensus guidelines on infection control in aesthetic practices, a precautionary tale from a plastic surgery clinic’s reopening in China, as well as the evolving marketing strategies clinics can adopt now.

There is always light at the end of the tunnel and a RealSelf community survey from 24 March, 2020 found that nine out of 10 aesthetic consumers still said they were considering a cosmetic procedure. It’s no surprise that social media is a key driver of this patient demand. This can be positive and negative and in our feature on ‘Cosmetic Surgery in the Vanity Age’ (page 46), body image researcher and clinician Roberta Honigman explores the effects of selfies on the aesthetics industry and what we need to be mindful of when presented with this new subset of patients. In a similar vein, we feature plastic surgeon Dr Malcolm Linsell’s hard look at the ‘Celebrity Effect’ and the ubiquitous use of digital imaging software that is perpetuating the ‘real vs reality’ syndrome.

Has isolation got you craving an escape? With strict travel restrictions in place, there’s never been a better time to embark on an Aussie adventure and help out the towns affected by the Summer Bushfires. From the towering scenery of the Tabertee Valley in NSW to the sub-alpine wilderness of Victoria’s High Country, our feature on the ‘Great Australian Road Trip’ (page 110) is a guide to visiting some of the country’s most iconic landmarks and helping rebuild firestricken communities, one town at a time.

As always, we continue to report on the latest technologies to enter the aesthetics market, with devices that meet patient demand and enhance your bottom line. As practices start their ascent again, it’s never been more important to come together as an industry, to share experiences and pitfalls and remember we’re all in this together.

Michelle Kearney 

Read this issue online.