The self-esteem crisis

FACE VALUE Getting filler or Botox is now so commonplace it’s almost become a routine beauty treatment.


An Cailín Rua
Anne-Marie Flynn

As trends go, getting poison injected into your face doesn’t sound particularly appealing, but aesthetic trends are different.
While ‘poison’ is being facetious, in recent years there has been an exponential increase in the amount of people, particularly young people, availing of Botox and other non-surgical cosmetic procedures. For the uninitiated, preventative Botox is an injectable toxin – produced quite close to home! – that temporarily relaxes or freezes facial muscles, preventing the development of fine links and wrinkles.
Dermal filler, meanwhile, is an injectable treatment which uses hydrating hyaluronic acid to add volume to certain areas of the face, or to fill wrinkles.
Getting filler or Botox is so commonplace now that it has almost become a routine beauty treatment, much like getting your nails or brows done. This quest for perfection is not confined to or targeted at women only, either, and nor is it confined to cosmetic procedures. Certain types of fitness regimes are also designed to fundamentally alter the way our bodies look and these too can be trend-led.
But what’s driving this obsession with altering our appearance?
There is no single answer, rather the trend is being influenced by multiple factors. Body-altering treatments have become more popular thanks to social media-influencing and the pox that is Love Island; greater accessibility and affordability; changing attitudes towards cosmetic procedures (once commonly perceived as a desperate attempt by older people to hang onto their youth, they’re now perceived as a way for young people to halt the ageing process); and greater advances in technology.
Some, like Botox, can offer health benefits like addressing migraines. But underpinning it all is the way we see ourselves, and it’s hard not to wonder – is this generation undergoing such a massive self-esteem crisis that we are simply unable to accept ourselves in our own natural states?
Looking at this through a feminist lens, the view is awash with conflict.
How anyone chooses to look, or what anyone chooses to do with their body is their choice and their business; that is pretty fundamental. No one deserves to be judged for their choices around cosmetic procedures and indeed, these choices are often empowering. But equally, it is so important to look at the environment within which these choices and decisions are being made.
In the visual eras of Instagram and Tik-Tok, appearance is everything. How you look, what you wear, what your body looks like – all of these are under scrutiny like never before, and are ascribed a disproportionate level of importance. While plastic surgery has always been a ‘thing’, particularly among wealthy celebrities, and the influence of high-profile figures like the Kardashians and Kylie Jenner have brought the concept of altering your appearance to the extreme, celebrity has also succeeded in driving the commercialisation of cosmetic change to the extent that it is now highly accessible to a younger – and more impressionable – audience.
Even as a sensible woman heading into middle age (on paper, if not in my mind) my targeted ads on social media clearly do not have my sensitivities at heart. As well as relentlessly showing me everything I need to survive perimenopause and menopause, I am reminded multiple times daily online that bigger (juicier, plumper) lips, more defined cheekbones and a non-moving forehead will make me a happier, better version of myself.
While feeling wistfully nostalgic for my teenage days when the only cosmetic help we had was Constance Carroll make-up from the pound shop and an ironing board for our hair, I am eternally grateful that my generation did not have to deal with the constant bombardment faced by the current one. At least we all looked like holy shows and no one stood out. Today, kids are confronted with the constant implication is that there is something wrong with the way they look. And as well as celebrities and influencers reinforcing this message, peer pressure is still as big a deal as it ever was, and growing up is just as hard.
Because it’s a relatively new phenomenon, it remains to be seen what the long term effects will be.
Over time, filler stretches and weighs down the skin, which means more filler is needed. Where does it end?
And what happens when we actually get old and can’t hide it anymore?
With all the talk about loving ourselves and the skin we’re in, it feels like a real shame that ageing – a privilege denied to so many – is seen as the enemy. Why would we want the lines on our faces that tell stories of lives hopefully well lived to be erased or remain unwritten?