It’s common nowadays for the rich and famous to debut a new face, similar to how a young starlet would show off a glitzy designer gown. Celebrities are known for nipping and tucking their way to physical perfection, whether it’s an appearance on a red carpet, a new album or movie launch, or a way to signal a career comeback.
Over the last decade, what’s changed is how normal and attainable plastic surgery trends have become. The wish to achieve subtle, understated results has been replaced by stark changes, leaving the recipient unrecognizable. Gone is the stigma and secrecy that once accompanied cosmetic interventions, replaced with unabashed transparency and public shoutouts crediting one’s surgeon.
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The Pew Research Center recently published polling results regarding health topics Americans hear about in the news. About a third of respondents say they hear about anti-aging cosmetic procedures, such as Botox (which smooths wrinkles), “extremely/very often.” Broken down by sex, 25% of men compared with 42% of women report hearing about such treatments “extremely/very often.” Among women, two age demographics, 18-to-29-year-olds and those 65 and older, hear about these procedures the most.
This messaging hasn’t landed on deaf ears. Women under the age of 30 are increasingly pursuing treatments such as “preventive” or “baby Botox,” terrified at the prospect of looking old. Lip and cheek fillers have similarly become staples among Generation Z (aged 13 to 28), even though many haven’t been alive long enough to experience significant facial fat loss.
You may wonder why teenage girls and young women are pursuing anti-aging treatments designed for women in middle age. Women are hard-wired, to some extent, to want to look younger since signs of aging act as evolutionary clues to future partners about one’s fertility and underlying health.
However, I believe these concerns are disproportionately amplified when someone spends too much time online, where a make-believe aesthetic, propelled by social media, has brainwashed multiple generations into thinking this is how they should look. Young women (and men) don’t realize that this standard isn’t the norm. Most people in the real world look nothing like the heavily edited and injected faces we frequently encounter in the digital realm.
This obsessive fear of aging has managed to sink its teeth into preteen girls. Instead of spending their spare time riding bikes or playing tag on the playground, these young influencers sit before ring lights, filming “get ready with me” videos for their followers. Generously slathering on anti-wrinkle serums and firming lotions, they sing the praises of starting SPF and anti-aging interventions early.
Buying into the desire to age as “gracefully” as possible can incur a cost beyond the initial price tag, including the risk of complications and death. If a patient is unhappy with the final look, she will need additional procedures to reverse its effects.
Breast implants, which are currently popular among Gen Z women, have been linked to later illness, including systemic symptoms such as fatigue and joint pain. Undergoing plastic surgery can also affect reproductive health because exposure to anesthesia and stress in the body can temporarily alter the production of hormones involved in ovulation.
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My reason for pointing this out is not to judge anyone who has undergone a cosmetic procedure. If an adult wants to change the way they look, who am I to tell them otherwise? I believe the demand is understandable for those working in a profession that involves increased scrutiny about how they look, and for those of an appropriate age, as opposed to baby-faced 20-something-year-olds. (Members of my audience have inquired if I’ve ever had work done; as of this writing, the answer is no.)
Plastic surgery is being sold to our youth as an expression of empowerment and status, something worthy of emulating. But aging is unavoidable, and erasing its signs is impossible. It’s more empowering to interpret the reality of getting older as something positive, a reflection of accumulated wisdom, instead of allowing billion-dollar industries to dictate our happiness.