When we look in the mirror, can we still see our real face? Every morning we even out our skin tone, cover pimples, contour cheekbones and emphasize the eyes with the foxy eye look. Why are we going through such a transformation – and for whom? An essay by Lea Brandes.
If we change our face to go in public, both virtually and physically, does that mean we no longer accept our real face?
From the rosy cheeks of the Victorian era to the heroin chic of the 90s, there has always been an ideal of beauty. Today the lips should be as full as possible, the cheekbones emphasized and the noses narrow. Not only the ideals of beauty , but above all the methods of fulfilling them, have become more and more extreme over time. The simple accentuation with make-up has turned into a normalization of surgical interventions and botox treatments.
For Sara Benamara, model and co-founder of the body-positive-model agency Spicee , the reason for the decision to undergo a nose operation is a long time ago. As one of three children of foreign origin, in an all-German school, she had to listen to comments about her big lips and nose every day – even her family teased her about her nose and acne. “Even as a child I asked: Can you have your lips made smaller?” She says. Today, full lips are considered the ideal of beauty, right now, but the nose remains a problem even if she never commented on it on her social media.
“I find it incredibly difficult to post pictures on social media without a filter. And when I don’t use a filter, I always hold the phone in front of my nose. Sometimes I even feel ashamed when I meet people for the first time in real life and.” they see what my nose looks like. ” Valentina Belleza, a model, influencer, and young mom, decided to get her nose done long before Instagram hit the ground running. On Facebook, she received a lot of messages from women who wanted to hear about her experience. Today she describes it as one of her best decisions that has increased her confidence immensely.
“When I had my lips done, I think I was 20 at the time, the topic wasn’t ready to be openly discussed. Many people still responded with incomprehension. Today it is quite normal to inject Botox But I think you should be transparent about it, because who do I want to fool a perfect life and perfect appearance? Of course I would rather post what I think is good, but I think you should still be honest about the fact that you had plastic surgery. “
The decision to undergo cosmetic surgery is up to you – but in times when influencers like Pipper Vospa are paid to promote their so-called “tweakments”, you don’t have to worry about how this affects the youngest Platforms? Valentina: “As a 14-year-old girl you can look through filters as if you are in your 20s, which can be very annoying.” According to Dr. Benjamin Debuc, a Paris plastic surgeon, “Injectables are usually not permanent, so there are usually no long-term physical effects. However, starting too young can have psychological effects – it can promote misperceptions of the face and the aging process. “
Of course, one cannot generalize that all social media has a detrimental impact on the mental life of young people. A study by the UK health organization Royal Society for Public Health ( RSPH ) and the Young Health Movement (YHM) ranked the most popular social media and their impact on young people. The clear winner with the most positive reviews was YouTube, while Instagram came last. Instagram has been described as a platform for self-expression, but it also puts its users under great pressure and gives them a feeling of inadequacy or even social anxiety.
The danger is that the increasing falsification of the online world by Photoshop, face filters and Co. spills so far into the real world that plastic surgery to change the entire appearance will become the norm for the next generation. That is why the Norwegian parliament has decided on a legal obligation to label edited images in social media – a step towards safe media use or a shot in the dark?
Valentina adds: “I try to keep my son off social media as much as possible, but he is the alpha generation who will be in his teens 10 years from now. So much will change again by then. But at what point are we able to weigh this big decision for ourselves? Especially when it comes to drastically changing interventions. Where educational institutions fail and the voice of society is louder than that of our parents, psychological counseling could become a method to to counteract the later regrets of a major cosmetic surgery.
Deppy Telikostoglou, the co-founder of Spicee: “Liposuction, for example, is one of the most dangerous surgeries ever, and yet a lot of people choose to have it done. I wouldn’t do it these days, but when I was younger and had the money, I would have agreed without thinking about it. “
Is that why we are so obsessed with our faces and is social media to blame for our desire to look at such an extreme these days?
Instagram generally denotes the use of face filters in a picture, but not on well-known personalities like the Kardashians. With Gen Z in particular, such selfies can arouse false expectations of their physical development and appearance. Social media does offer space for discussion, education and a place where like-minded people can meet. However, the negative side should not be underestimated. In addition to bullying at school, there is also anonymous bullying on the Internet. For our youngest, the virtual world is more accurate than we can imagine, and accordingly it also has a strong influence on our emotional and physical well-being in real life. Is that why we are so obsessed with our faces, and is it because of social media that we want to change the way we look so extreme these days?
Dr. Debuc emphasizes the importance of educating about injections: “The first rule for me is that I only treat one part at a time and I never do botox and hyaluronic acid at the same time because it can sometimes change the face too much. If you can Treating part of the face changes the rest of the face as well. For example, if someone wants more volume in the cheekbones and lips, adding more volume in the cheekbones also changes the architecture of the lips slightly, and sometimes is that’s enough for the patient. ” Some people apply makeup or use filters to enhance their facial features, and others transform their entire face through extreme makeup or surgery. One has to distinguish between appearance-adapting and appearance-changing interventions and the reason for the change. It has long been a routine procedure for babies to have surgery on their ears. But why is such an operation not considered bad and others are?
Sara: “I think it’s okay when people say that they don’t want to look natural; there are also people who say that they explicitly want to look unnatural. However, it is important, especially as an influencer, to show reality and focus on it to point out what is not natural about their online presence. “
“Ideals of beauty have always existed, and people have always measured themselves against them. They are constantly changing due to many different influences, not just social media, but also because political things sometimes play a role. That’s why I think it’s important to be yourself think about whether this plastic surgery that I want to do is just a trend or whether I will still like it in 10 years. That is why education is so important. ” We are constantly looking for recognition, both in our social circle and on social media. But to what point is it normal and when does it become unhealthy? Is an opinion from a stranger worth that much?
Especially since Gen Z spends a lot of time on platforms like Tik Tok, where there are filters that slim the body and change the overall appearance, our youngest seem at risk of developing an unhealthy relationship with their natural appearance. Just saying that an image has been edited may not be enough if the visual message is still desirable but unreachable. So we need to keep the discussion open and stop being so wrong about ourselves and our environment – surgery for yourself is worth a lot, but change for others can negatively affect everyone around you, as Dr. Debuc emphasizes: “Plastic surgery is really all about the patient and their feelings. When patients ask me ‘what would you do?’ I never answer because my perception of the face is different from theirs, and only the opinion of the patient Patient matters. I’ll ask them back ‘what’s bothering you’ so I know how to correct it. “
Photo: Velizar Ivanov
It is important for society to speak openly about plastic and cosmetic surgery – in order to educate and create awareness of the preventive approach of injections, but also of the psychological effects in certain age groups. As an individual deciding on treatment, the most important thing is to take the time to think about it and just take it one step at a time, as Dr. Benjamin Debuc emphasizes: “We all feel differently and like or dislike all the features of our face. Plastic surgery can help get rid of the complexes and build confidence, but it is really important to only treat part of the face and yourself Allow time to think. “
Photos: Elia Pellegrini