The coronavirus (COVID-19) is forcing companies across industries to rethink their business models as consumers continue to be confined to their homes with economic uncertainty looming.

Beauty and wellness brands in particular are pivoting to meet the needs of their quarantined customers who are looking for content, commodities, and connection from the comfort of their couches.

As a result, the lines between beauty, wellness, and health continue to merge. Many brands are taking cues from the healthcare sector, which has seen an unprecedented surge in demand for telehealth services, and are adopting a “telebeauty” approach as Americans grow more comfortable with online consultations and remote treatment.

Telemedicine is not a new concept. The sector has seen compelling growth in recent years, with related claims surging more than 50% from 2016 to 2017, according to Fair Health Inc., which collects health insurance data.

We’ve already started to see telemedicine’s potential to disrupt the beauty industry, with the fast rise of disruptive wellness brands like Curology, Hims, Hers, and Keeps.

Unsurprisingly, in the past month, numerous telehealth companies have seen triple-digit growth in demand, suggesting that the telehealth trend is here to stay and could have a pervasive influence on other industries such as beauty and wellness.

“We’ve seen a steep increase in the request for virtual care since the COVID-19 outbreak,” says Choo Kim, Operations Manager at One Medical. “In a time where the best precautionary measure is to stay home, One Medical has been able to leverage telemedicine to care for patients regardless of where they are located. Offering virtual visits has also allowed us to help our health system partners by limiting the amount of Emergency department visits, which is incredibly critical right now.”

While stuck at home, consumers are turning to on-demand and real-time digital options to address a wide range of wellness and beauty concerns. High levels of stress and anxiety, known to lead to flare-ups of skin conditions, are contributing to a higher demand for teledermatology services.

To meet this demand, Pore House, a disruptive dermatology concept scheduled to open late summer, decided to accelerate the launch of their website, which features cosmetic and medical teledermatology services.

“Now, more than ever, we are seeing the connection between inner health and outer beauty; we are seeing skin conditions like acne and eczema manifest from stress, anxiety, lack of sleep and a change in lifestyle habits like diet and exercise,” says Amanda Kutner, Pore House co-founder and CEO. “While skincare may not be considered critical care during COVID-19, we cannot overlook the connection between mental health and skin health. Telemedicine will allow us to extend access to dermatologic care during this crisis and when we are on the other side, it will provide supplemental care to in-person appointments.”

Dr. Whitney Bowe, a board-certified dermatologist and frequent Good Morning America guest, believes telemedicine is especially relevant to skincare. “The skin, unlike most other organs, is one you can see with the naked eye,” says Dr. Bowe. “The field of dermatology, and skin health in general, has always been one of the most promising applications of telemedicine. I can diagnose most skin issues simply by looking at the skin, or at high quality images of the skin.”

These virtual services are the new normal in the days of the pandemic, but what about after it subsides—will they prove permanent?

“Overall, the benefits we’ve seen in virtual visits for both our patients and our staff has convinced me that telemedicine will continue to play an important role long after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic,” says Kim.

Telemedicine has also been a popular investment among VCs, with its promise to expand access and lower costs while delivering care via telephone, email, text, or video feed. Over the last decade, venture capitalists have funded more than $4 billion in US telemedicine deals, according to transaction tracker Pitchbook Data Inc. As brands struggle to secure funding, telebeauty services could be a compelling proposition to future investors.

“I believe that we will start to see these remote technologies apply to so many more aspects of skin health in the near future,” says Dr. Bowe. “For example, I envision a day in the near future when dermatologists and skin experts can assess high quality images of a person’s skin and offer very customized recommendations for skincare products, nutritional supplements and other lifestyle modifications that will specifically help that person reach his or her skin goals.”

Given the fast uptake of these digital services, it’s difficult to imagine consumers will be willing to go back to life without them.