About 60 percent of women living in the Seoul metro region reduced their hospital visits to receive cosmetic procedures last year because of the Covid-19 pandemic, a survey has shown.

Healingpaper, which operates a cosmetic-medical information platform, conducted the opinion poll to survey the experience of cosmetic procedures during the Covid-19 period. 

The survey asked about beauty procedures to 350 women 10-30 years of age living in Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province. People who experienced cosmetic procedures, such as Botox and filler injections, from March 2020 to February 2021 took part in the poll. Those who underwent plastic surgeries were excluded. 

Asked why they reduced hospital visits for beauty treatments, 88 percent said they went out less because of Covid-19, 54 percent answered they could cover up their faces, and 33 percent responded that they didn’t invest in beauty treatments due to reduced income. 

In contrast, 22 percent of respondents said they visited hospitals more last year than in 2019. For reasons, 65 percent said they could hide their surgery marks by wearing masks, 65 percent said they had fewer opportunities to meet people face to face, and 50 percent said they had more time to visit hospitals while working from home. 

The other 10 percent said they did not visit hospitals in 2019, while 8 percent said there were little differences in the number of their hospital visits. 

Botox injection was the most common beauty treatment they got in 2020, accounting for half of the respondents' cosmetic procedures last year. It was followed by skincare, hair waxing, skin laser, and filler injections. The largest share of them (23 percent) spent 500,000 won to 1 million won ($443-$886) on beauty treatments last year. They paid between 30,000 won and 200,000 won per procedure. 

“As the non-contact culture spread, the number of cosmetic procedures has reduced. However, the number of searches for medical information and reviews has increased,” a platform operator said. “We expect an increasing number of consumers will visit hospitals that best solve their problems without unnecessary and excessive treatments.