Why are we obsessed with staying young?
Meghan Glover
In a social media age where every man and his dog feel comfortable commenting on a woman’s appearance, it’s no wonder that we have gone down the rabbit hole of obsessing over our looks. From vampires to vampire facials, has our obsession with youth grown exponentially over the past few years? Or is it only now that we see our obsession on our screens 24/7 that it has become an issue?
In an era where we refuse to let a woman grow old gracefully, it’s no surprise that the pressure to turn back the clock is immense. But it begs the question of what lengths do we actually go to in order to avoid the inevitable? And what is this doing to future generations who see it on their screens daily?
One so-called youth-preserving procedure – vampire facials, was in the news last year after three women contracted HIV from a clinic in Mexico. With famous celebs like Kim Kardashian raving on social media about the facial, it exposes the very real dangers of these so-called ‘fads’ that are promoted online. Vampire facials, or PRP facials, use the technique of injecting platelet-rich plasma and hyaluronic acid filler into the skin to supposedly plump, contour and reduce wrinkles. Although this is an alternative to more invasive cosmetic surgery, there can still be risks such as cross contamination – such as in the case in Mexico.
If this doesn’t appeal to you, don’t worry. There are many other injectable options on the market to keep you looking fresh-faced. From botox to smooth those brow lines, volumising lip and cheek filler or injectables for hand rejuvenation, there are so many filler options on the market. But what are the real implications of filler? And when they dissolve, where do they actually go? Whilst a lot of fillers mostly dissolve over time by themselves, any hyaluronic acid-based fillers can also be dissolved by a trained professional and will naturally be filtered out by your body. Relatively harmless, so they say. But the overfilling we see constantly on social media is possibly less so. Summarised well by the young character Spike in ‘28 Years Later’ who – when shown a photo of the girlfriend of soldier Erik asks what’s wrong with her face it, and this makes it painstakingly obvious how used to this we have become. In the ‘28 Years’ universe, Spike will never have seen someone look like this, yet this is becoming the norm. This is what the younger generation are seeing on the daily. This is what they think we should look like. This is the standard of beauty we are promoting.
The origins of plastic surgery can be traced centuries back, and over the years, and the wars, it proved itself to be life changing to those with facial injuries or bodily disfigurements. Now when we hear the term ‘plastic surgery’ in mainstream media, what we actually mean is ‘cosmetic surgery’. We are editing ourselves for no gain other than to fit societal beauty standards.
So if money is no option, then cosmetic surgery at the best practice in town – or in Turkey, will get you a new face and body in no-time. And whilst a face lift, tummy tuck, BBL, fillers and botox may set you back a couple hundred thousand, it’s all worth it to look like a completely different person — I mean, younger — right? However, the occasional horror story in the news about a botched procedure with worrying before and after pictures, as well as the odd death is enough to scare anyone. Right?
Well, not quite.
Many celebrities in fact seem to be getting younger as the months go by, and somehow we don’t think they’ve opted for a bottle of Olay. The rise of plastic surgery in the pursuit of youth – by those who can afford it, poses somewhat of a psychological and societal danger. It’s a double edged sword. With our social media feeds being bombarded with 40 year olds looking 30 thanks to going under the knife or the use of a really great filter, actual signs of ageing are being phased out. And the danger of this is that the average person will never look like that, and while that’s totally okay and totally normal – there is still a pressure to achieve the ‘look’. We then find ourselves back at square one with the comments of ‘looking old’, when in fact people are just looking their age.
For the rest of us who may be opposed to plastic surgery, or simply cannot afford it, we might turn to skincare regimens promoted by influencers on TikTok, or buy that one product that Boots insists will ‘reduce fine lines and wrinkles’. But there’s no way of knowing how any of us will look in ten or twenty years time with or without procedures and a 20-step skincare routine. Yet given the chance, we are increasingly keen to inject, cut-away parts of ourselves and apply products in the hopes of preventing the inevitable.
Featured image by Diana Polekhina on Unsplash.