Publication Date

2021-08-27

Document Type

Article

Disciplines

Dermatology | Infectious Disease | Mental and Social Health | Psychiatry and Psychology | Virus Diseases

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has deeply disrupted daily life across the globe, with profound effects on mental and physical health. After more than a year of isolation and communication via videoconferencing, people are returning to in-person activities.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate worsening self-perception, mental health, and anxiety with the return to in-person activities, with a focus on the influence of videoconferencing, social media, and the use of filters.

Methods: An anonymous survey was distributed online through social media platforms and student network pages.

Results: A total of 7295 participants responded to the survey. Seventy-one precent reported anxiety or stress related to returning to in-person activities, and nearly 64% sought mental health support services. Thirty-percent stated they plan to invest in their appearance as a coping strategy to deal with the anxiety of returning to in-person, and > 30% plan to take action in changing their appearance. The most reported dermatologic concerns were skin discoloration (32.36%), wrinkles (24.45%), and acne (14.85%). The prevalence of anxiety and mental health services increased relative to the use of filters in 18- to 24 year-olds.

Conclusion: This survey study of > 7000 participants across the country elucidates worsening self-perception, anxiety, and mental health as we return to in-person activities in relation to increased videoconferencing, social media usage, and the use of filters. Physicians should be aware of these effects to better serve their patients.

Keywords

Body dysmorphia, Cosmetic dermatology, Esthetics, Self-perception

Rights and Permissions

© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of Women’s Dermatologic Society. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

DOI of Published Version

10.1016/j.ijwd.2021.08.009

Source

Silence C, Rice SM, Pollock S, Lubov JE, Oyesiku LO, Ganeshram S, Mendez A, Feeney F, Kourosh AS. Life after lockdown: Zooming out on perceptions in the post-videoconferencing era. Int J Womens Dermatol. 2021 Aug 27;7(5Part B):774-779. doi: 10.1016/j.ijwd.2021.08.009. PMID: 35028381; PMCID: PMC8714587. Link to article on publisher's site

Journal/Book/Conference Title

International journal of women's dermatology

Related Resources

Link to Article in PubMed

PubMed ID

35028381

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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