Lidstraffung, Blépharoplastie, or Blepharoplasty? A Multi-Language Analysis of European Blepharoplasty Demand
Author: Finian O’Malley Base Hospital / Institution: Royal Free Trust, LondonePoster presentation
Abstract ID: 26-459Purpose
Google Trends provides freely accessible population-level data on consumer health interest as a proxy for surgical demand. Liao et al. (Laryngoscope, 2025) demonstrated a sustained post-pandemic blepharoplasty search increase in the United States. We aimed to characterise trends across 8 European countries before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods
Google Trends (trends.google.com) was queried using the dominant native-language search term per country (UK/Ireland: blepharoplasty; France: blépharoplastie; Germany: Lidstraffung; Italy: blefaroplastica; Spain/Portugal: blefaroplastia; Poland: korekta powiek), January 2018–May 2026. Monthly relative search volume (RSV, 0–100) was extracted. Pre-COVID baseline (2018–Feb 2020), lockdown (Mar–Jun 2020), and post-COVID (2022+) periods were compared. Seasonal indices were calculated.
Results
Three findings were identified. A marked decrease during national lockdowns (mean −20%, range −8% to −38%). A sustained multi-year lift from 2021 onwards, with all 8 countries above pre-COVID baseline (mean +107%), with three countries showing statistically significant rising post-2022 trends (UK +0.99 RSV/month, France +0.57, Ireland +0.42; all p<0.001). And a consistent seasonal peak in February (mean 53% above June trough) across all countries.
Conclusion
Blepharoplasty search interest demonstrated a sustained post-pandemic increase alongside a consistent annual seasonal cycle across all 8 European countries analysed. This increased search interest correlates with larger global trends of increasing demand for aesthetic eyelid surgery post 2021 (ISAPS Global Survey, Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, 2024). A key methodological limitation of cross-national Google Trends analysis is the requirement for country-specific native-language search terms; however, the consistency of trends across all 8 linguistically diverse countries each queried in their dominant consumer vocabulary lends weight to the robustness of the observed patterns.
