Forget what you think you know about Botox. Once
considered the not-so-secret tool of celebrities and the wealthy with a bad rap
for freezing faces, the wrinkle-melting injections have become a commonplace
activity of a normie class with money to spare.
اضافة اعلان
“Many millennials prioritize taking care of themselves
early on and really believe in prevention,” said Dr. Panta Rouhani Schaffer, a
dermatologist in New York who has seen an uptick in younger patients requesting
Botox in the past few years. “That just got amplified during the pandemic, when
people have spent so much time staring at themselves on screens.”
But they’re looking for results a la J. Lo, not Jocelyn Wildenstein.
It’s a softer approach, called “baby Botox” by some and “preventive Botox” by
others, that is changing the common question, “Would you ever get Botox?” to
“When will you start?”
The answer from millennials and Gen Zers is,
increasingly, in their 20s and 30s, ages when most baby boomers and Gen Xers
were not yet fretting over aging with the same all-consuming anxiety. (See:
sunscreen, considered a must today but an afterthought for many until the early
1990s.)
Leah Walkiewicz, a 27-year-old product manager in
Manhattan, has been getting Botox in her forehead since she was 24, a decision
spurred by what she felt was early wrinkle formation and a close look at how
her family has aged.
“I always had obvious fine lines on my forehead, and
makeup would settle into those lines really obviously,” she said of her
decision to start so young.
Despite some nerves, the discreet shots her
dermatologist administered led her to return for more, roughly every 10 months.
This year she moved beyond getting Botox in the forehead and glabella (the area
between the eyebrows) to test out injections in her “crow’s feet.”
“It’s been crazy to see the progress,” Walkiewicz said.
“If more people had told me what you can do with Botox sooner, I think I would
have gone a couple of years earlier.”
From Stigma to Sharing
Social media has been both a blessing and a curse in our
relationship to Botox. While the selfie-heavy platforms have made it easier
than ever for people to compare and despair over their looks, they have also helped
destigmatize and increase education about the once-taboo subject.
Kathryn Gongaware, a 32-year-old yoga teacher and
comedian in Chicago, was always curious about Botox, but it wasn’t until she
started mentioning it to friends and realized that people she wouldn’t have
expected (including her au-naturel-everything acupuncturist) were getting it
that she felt comfortable making the jump at age 30.
“The more people were open about it, the more it felt
destigmatized,” she said.
This forthrightness has been particularly transformative
among women of color, who are often left out of conversations and marketing
about cosmetic procedures. There’s also a deeply rooted stigma in many
communities of color that by opting for cosmetic procedures that have inclined
toward European beauty ideals, you’re rejecting your roots, said Dr. Onyeka
Obioha, a dermatologist in Los Angeles who has been getting Botox since she was
25.
“Historically, and even today, the majority of
advertisements for cosmetic procedures do not feature or target minorities,”
Obioha said. “But now with social media, there’s more attention given to the
fact that women of color also get cosmetic procedures, so the stigma
surrounding them seems to be decreasing.”
While online sharing has helped reduce the stigma, it
has brought with it some downside, too — namely, young people thinking they
need to start Botox because their friends are doing it.
“I’ve had 20-year-olds in college come in without
knowing anything about Botox who really don’t need it, but they have this sense
of FOMO because their friends are doing it,” said Dr. Sheila Farhang, a
dermatologist and cosmetic surgeon in Arizona, who doles out skin-care tips to
thousands of followers on Instagram and YouTube. “I will not inject someone
that age, and I try to explain to them why they really don’t need it.”
The Difference in ‘Baby Botox’
A shift in how Botox is administered has also helped
convince younger people to try it. “When Botox first came out, people were
using it to really isolate and freeze the muscles, so that frozen look was what
people associated it with,” Schaffer said. At the time, doctors were using 20
to 30 units in one area or muscle alone, a dosing that has lowered
significantly in the last 10 years.
“People are starting to appreciate that by doing less,
you still get a very nice softening that gives people enough of what they want
to see in terms of tightening and retexturizing,” she said.
“Baby Botox” involves using 20 to 35 units spread out
across multiple muscles in the face, most commonly in the forehead (2 to 12
units), glabella and brow area (20 to 22 units) and the corners of the eyes (3
to 4 units per eye). The result when done right is a refreshed look that
doesn’t render one’s face immobile.
Most patients in their 20s and 30s are looking to smooth
out fine lines and prevent the formation of deep, static wrinkles in the
future. “With Botox, over time, you’re thinning out that muscle and using it
less, so those lines don’t really get etched in,” Schaffer said.
While less risky than filler injections, Botox is not
always the Benjamin Button miracle cure it’s made out to be. Proceeding with
caution, particularly when starting young, is key.
“Botox is very much a medical procedure,” Farhang said.
“It’s not a Groupon situation.”
On the plus side, the impermanence of Botox means that even
if an injector overdoes the dosage, it will wear off without long-term facial
alteration. With continued high doses, your muscles can technically atrophy, or
lose their strength. But with other muscles moving in the face, that’s not
something you’ll necessarily notice, Farhang said, and some research has shown
that if you take a break from Botox, those muscles rebuild.
As for the concern that your body will get “used to”
Botox and stop working, doctors say there’s little such evidence. “In my
experience, many patients just require fewer units over time because their
facial muscles are less dynamic and thus require less,” Schaffer said.
Despite its impermanence, “bad” Botox can last for
months, making it risky for your self-esteem. A few weeks ago, Farhang saw a
bride-to-be three weeks out from her wedding with a droopy eyelid from having
been injected too low and too deep in the forehead and brow area.
“There’s literally nothing I can do to fix it until it
wears off, besides prescribing her an eyedrop that activates that muscle a
bit,” she said. “It may be temporary, but four months is a really long time to
look wonky.”
