Photo by bruce mars on Unsplash
The signs of the times do not go past anyone. The more intense one has lived, the more they appear. The morning look in the mirror is mostly critical and becomes more and more critical with age. The first wrinkles tell us that we no longer belong to youth, although we still and always (want to?) feel young.
Each of us is affected by age in a different, very individual way. In some cases it is the wrinkles, in others they increase in volume, because you don’t treat yourself otherwise, or they become skin and bones through asceticism. Years of visits to the tanning bed or to the various beaches of the world have influenced our skin status: age spots, redness, blue veins, acne scars, wrinkles and much more are the result and have caused our formerly blooming appearance to wither. The ever increasing and progressive loss of hyaluronic acid in the skin, which is capable of storing water, has brought the originally well-padded baby face to its present thin-walled state.
And we are getting older and older. At 65, we think we are in the prime of life, but a look in the mirror often reveals something else. Attractiveness has diminished and suffered under the signs of age. A mechanism is set in motion that touches us in our innermost being: Self image and reflection coincide less and less.
The playground of possibilities for our appearance is now almost endless. At least this diversity was brought to us by the generation of 68, although they actually wanted something different. It seems as if we want (have to?) individualise ourselves more and more. Design of the ego plays an immense role in our own affirmation, just like the question of which designer brands we wear or with which cosmetics we embellish ourselves. Today, in a time when not even a simple kettle can be sold without a special design, individuality must be acquired through design. Anyone who does not play along with this is violating the rules of our (meaningless?) lives. Giving oneself meaning through crazy haircuts or hair colour, through piercings and lots of tattoos makes us the canvas of our dreams. Do we become happier and feel better? For many of us this design mechanism seems to work, otherwise there wouldn’t be so many who individualize themselves in such a way. This kind of individualization has almost become a mass phenomenon, the individuality of the masses, the uniqueness of the general.
Is it therefore surprising if we strive for more attractiveness? Can attractiveness even lead to more meaning? The question of what attractiveness means has already been examined in many studies. However, all hypotheses have proven to be unfounded or only partially correct, so we do not want to reproduce them here. If you look at aesthetics in a practical way, as you do with aesthetic treatments, you will find out some very simple truths about attractiveness.
- Aging process
The ageing process changes face and body. Fat compartments grow larger or sink downwards under the force of gravity and thus change their contours, ligaments become worn out and even our skeleton partially regresses. Patients who want to react to this have the need to regain some attributes of youthfulness. This does not mean that they want to look youthful again, which is not possible. They want the contours and dimensions of a youthful face paired with a radiance of vitality. Since aesthetic medicine not only promises this, but can often keep it, this group of patients is by far the largest that visits the aesthetic practice. - Disturbance of the harmony
Disturbances of harmony are influenced by social aesthetic ideas. Age plays no or only a minor role. A crooked nose, protruding ears or breasts that are too small and lips too thin belong in this category. Although social, these disorders are experienced in a deeply personal way. The disharmony disturbs the patient most of all. Often it does not play a role at all with other people in the immediate environment. But the affected person feels uncomfortable and is unhappy about his or her appearance.
How can something comparatively simple and easy to produce, such as a frown line treatment, make people feel more comfortable? Several research groups have been working on this question. The frown line (glabellar frown line), if it is very pronounced, has an effect on the perception of everyone who meets this person. As the name suggests, the person looks angry, sometimes grumpy or dismissive, although often they are not. How do you meet such a person? Do you keep your distance or do you approach them in a relaxed manner? Just check for yourself. If this wrinkle disappears, the environment changes first. Others meet this person with greater nearness and the treated person experiences the greater nearness as something positive. This opens up many new possibilities for the person with the frown line. He or she too can suddenly react more easily and with less distance to other people. So a feedback mechanism is set in motion that enables the patient to feel more comfortable.
We all know intuitively that our whole living together is based on such feedback mechanisms, both positive and negative. These serve the stability of our relationships and unfortunately often have the disadvantage of adding inflexibility.
An aesthetic treatment is therefore always a decision to change something important, to break out of the shackles of inflexibility, to feel more alive.
The question “How do I feel?” is therefore absolutely part of the decision process for or against an aesthetic intervention. Without an answer, the decision cannot be made. Here aesthetic medicine can be medicine altogether if it helps people feel good in their own skin.