Beware of Cosmetic Procedures

This article was last updated on July 19, 2023

Canada: Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…
USA: Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…The ‘perfect’ body, face and teeth. According to many influencers on Instagram and TikTok, this is also within reach for you. On their accounts they talk extensively about the cosmetic procedures they have undergone. Medical specialists are now warning of the long-term consequences of the interventions. ‘The treatment of young girls has really gone too far. They want bigger and bigger lips.’

The proportion of young people aged 18 to 25 who have cosmetic procedures performed has more than doubled in ten years, according to research by Erasmus MC last year. Nevertheless, according to Anne-Mette Hermans, a researcher from Tilburg University, influencers are not the cause of this increase but rather a symptom of a consumer society and a visual culture with a strong emphasis on appearance.

Influencers and the Influence on Their Followers

Many influencers not only talk about the cosmetic procedures they have undergone, they also promote them among their followers. A little advertising for the clinic in question results in free treatment or a substantial discount. Do those posts make their followers more likely to have a cosmetic treatment performed themselves? Yes, there is indeed a relationship, researchers Anne-Mette Hermans (Tilburg University), Sophie Boerman (Wageningen University) and Jolanda Veldhuis (VU University Amsterdam) discovered.

The Role of Influencers

“It is a bit of a chicken-and-egg story,” says Hermans. “The followers may already be interested in an intervention and will therefore follow a certain influencer. Such an influencer then confirms to them that it is ‘normal’ to have the procedure performed.” The way in which some cosmetic clinics present themselves on social media contributes to this. They post final photos of a procedure on their accounts with happy emojis, but they don’t mention the risks of the procedures.

The Concerns of Cosmetic Doctors

David Mosmuller, cosmetic doctor and medical director of cosmetic skin clinic Doctors at Soap, offers some of the trending treatments, but is concerned about young patients who see social media posts and knock on his and his fellow doctors’ doors. “Research shows that the brain only finishes developing at the age of 25. Under this age you are more easily influenced, for example through social media.” Young patients are also less able to estimate the long-term consequences of an intervention, he says.

Invasive Procedures and Their Risks

1. Remove Facial Fat

A convex toe is undesirable in the current ideal of beauty. Following celebrities such as models Bella Hadid and Chrissy Teigen, removing buccal fat – facial fat – to create a sculpted face is currently extremely popular among women.

David Mosmuller is familiar with the procedure. “Young women want to look like a slim 35-year-old woman with a ‘gym face’: the face of someone trained through many sports, with a tight jawline. In the face you see a v-line from chin to cheekbone, so that a prominent shadow edge is created.”

However, he does not recommend having buccal fat removed. “That fat will never come back. When you get older, you automatically lose facial fat. That means that even more fat will disappear in these girls, so that they get a sunken face around the age of forty. Then fellow doctors can say ‘then won’t you just put filler in by then?”, but that filler often does not end up exactly where the fat originally was. You will also have to repeat those filler treatments annually for a lasting effect.”

2. Artificial Dimples in the Cheeks

Dimples in the cheeks, especially when someone smiles, are seen as cute and attractive. If you don’t have these dimples naturally, there are cosmetic doctors who can create them for you. However, there are also influencers who cause a worrying trend on TikTok: they themselves put dimples in their cheeks. With a pen, they push on their cheek until damage occurs to a muscle and a dimple appears.

“A phenomenon as bizarre as it is alarming,” says Mosmuller. “You can easily get an infection in your mouth or cut the muscle. If you smile after that, you’ll get a dimple. That is usually done safely by a doctor. How far you cut the muscle determines whether it is temporary or permanent.”

But here too there is a downside to the intervention in the form of the long-term consequences. Mosmuller: “Dimples – naturally present or created by a doctor – will become a line-shaped wrinkle in the future. I see so many people in the practice who used to be happy with their natural dimples but now come to me because they want to do something about those lines. However, that is difficult. On the cheek, where the skin is in motion all day long, you will never get rid of such a line with a filler.”

3. Pearl White Veneers

Straight, radiant white teeth complete the ideal look. Braces and treatments with whiteners can help, but there is a more rigorous option: having veneers placed. With this treatment, a piece of one to two millimeters is shaved off the front of your own tooth and a plastic or porcelain filling is glued to it.

The result: white, perfect-looking teeth. Vlogs with jubilant influencers who show off pearly white teeth thanks to veneers cannot be counted on one hand. Jerry Baas, a dentist in Amsterdam, believes that the procedure should not be taken lightly. “Your own tooth tissue protects the dental nerve. The moment you put a drill in a tooth, that’s the beginning of the end.”

Removing a layer of dental tissue makes the teeth weaker. “That can irritate your dental nerves and cause toothaches. And don’t forget, that chipped piece of tooth tissue will never grow back.”

4. Lip Fillers

Filling the lips is a well-known procedure among influencers and celebrities. With an injection of hyaluronic acid, the volume of the lips is increased. “You regularly see, especially in young girls, that the treatment has really gone too far. They want bigger lips.”

According to Dr. Mosmuller, if large amounts of filler are injected, this can move to the skin above the lip, resulting in a so-called ‘duck face’. “Moisture is attracted to the fillers and it is retained because the drainage system of the skin no longer works properly.”

The moisture problem mainly occurs with large amounts of filler at once or with ‘stacking’ if you have the treatment done several times in a short time. “There can also be moisture blisters on the lip due to super-hydration.”

Dr. Mosmuller at his clinic has been receiving more requests from patients for larger lips that still look natural. Even with celebrities, very large lips seem to be losing popularity. For example, Kylie Jenner and YouTuber Monica Geuze have now had their fillers removed, which is done by dissolving the hyaluronic acid with an enzyme. However, the moisture that has collected does not dissolve.