Image: AgenC
I’m 26, and I'm already squinting at the fine lines on my forehead every time I explain something or tell a joke. I have reference photos saved on Instagram, so I'd have pictures ready to go if I ever did walk into a consultation with a dermatologist. I’ve researched all the side-effects, seen before and afters, and talked to every expert I possibly can. But I’m only in my 20s once, and while the instant gratification of botox and a quick jab of filler may sound very welcoming, I’m sticking to slathering on sunscreen, relying on peptides and praying that my retinol does its job. But when I turn 30, I’m making that appointment.
A lot of millennials and Gen Zer’s aren’t waiting, though. “I’ve had my fair share of filler. Under-eye filler, nose filler, lip filler, chin filler, jaw filler,” says Alana Arbucci in an Instagram video to her 109 thousand followers. She’s 23 years old. She got botox for the first time when she was 20, and since “done her lips two or three times” (she’s lost count), put the leftover filler in her cheeks, did her under-eyes twice, put filler in her lips two or three times and did the same to her jaw once. She’s happy to talk about it, too—sharing her insights, regrets, triumphs and reasons along the way. “I think that a lot of people say that if you get a cosmetic procedure, you don’t love yourself at all, but I don’t think that’s true. I like myself naturally, and I also like myself with filler,” she confirmed in a Youtube vlog.
Suhanna De Silva—a content creator based in Toronto—also got botox in her early 20s. “South Asians are known to age relatively well. I almost feel like I’m doing something wrong if I don’t age the ‘right way,’” she says. “I noticed fine lines forming on my forehead that weren’t there before. I also noticed these lines shortly after finding my first greying hair. I still get mistaken for younger than my age, but seeing the fine lines definitely set off an alarm bell in my head, that yeah, I’m getting older, so I decided to do something about it.”
She’s part of a pretty large group of millennial and Gen-Z consumers that are going all-in on preventative anti-ageing—why would you let your fine lines graduate to full-blown wrinkles if you can get rid of them before they even start? Pharmaceutical company Allergan (who make the wrinkle reducer Botox) responded to this demand in 2019 by marketing material that spoke directly to 20- and 30-somethings, promising them that botox and filler was a quick and easy fix that wasn’t just reserved for their mothers and grandmothers. “We’ve shifted the Botox positioning to not only appeal to our core client—women that are in their 40s and older—but to also be squarely targeted at millennials. That’s where we see the growth is for the brand,” shared Carrie Strom, Allergan SVP of US medical aesthetics, in a statement accompanying the new advertisements. It makes sense: according to the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery’s survey, the average number of surgical procedures among 22- to 37-year-olds has doubled since 2013 to 47 per cent, and Botox injections jumped up by 22 per cent.
In India, too, a shift is coming. The rise in injectables with younger patients is mainly due to two reasons—one, the awareness of micro-ageing, because of which patients are opting for botox earlier to prevent the onset of static wrinkles and further ageing related issues. Two, there's also more acceptance of what injectables can non-surgically do for their face—in terms of facial contouring, fixing a crooked nose, lip augmentation and face slimming, says Dr Harshna Bijlani, medical head of The Ageless Clinic.
Some stats claim that the average millennial will take 25,000 selfies in their lifetime. For the even younger Gen Z audience, they’ve likely never lived without taking photos and videos of themselves, so taking a good hard look at what you look like is an everyday affair. In India itself, there are 201 million users on Instagram, of which most are in the 18-24 age group. #Botox has 11.9 million posts, while #filler has 3.3 million. It’s pervasive, and it’s everywhere you look.
For some, looking at filtered, photoshopped images of content creators and celebrities might cause them to judge their own appearance based on the beauty standards they are exposed to. According to Dr Kavita Mariwalla, a New York City-based dermatologist, many of her younger patients come in with references of influencers and celebrities to show what kind of lips they would like or ask how they can get a similar jawline. “They see very unrealistic photos online and begin to think that is the reality sometimes,” she says. “With social media, we pay so much more attention to how we look. We’re so hyper-focussed on how we appear and how validated we are, based on our appearance. It’s about how many likes you got or how many views you racked up,” says Mumbai-based counselling psychologist Tanya Vasunia. “No matter how forward-thinking a person might be, if everyone around them is considering one thing to be beautiful, they're likely to be swayed,” she says
But for others, social media makes cosmetic procedures more accessible and easier to digest—the readily-available information destigmatizes an otherwise taboo topic. The messaging is clear—if you want to fill your lips, freeze your forehead or upgrade your jawline, you shouldn’t have to be unhappy with what you don’t like, especially because there’s a safe and easy option to fix it. “Even though nobody but me noticed my fine lines, they bothered me, so I decided to eradicate them,” says De Silva. Plus, because you see influencers and celebrities talk about their cosmetic procedures so openly, you get a more realistic look at what you’re getting into. “Younger people are coming into the clinic knowing exactly what they want, how they want to look, and what they can expect in terms of final results,” says Dr Batul Patel, medical director of The Bombay Skin Clinic.
It helps that non-invasive procedures like botox and fillers are reversible and don’t last forever. Case in point: Arbucci got a lot of procedures and then reversed the ones she didn’t like. “I always thought, should I be doing all this stuff when I was so young—19, 20? Looking back, I am very glad that I did it young because now, at the age of 22, I get to say confidently, this is what looks good, and this is what doesn’t, and now let’s get on with our lives,” she says in a video.
But is it really all that safe for you in the long run? Doctors say it might be if you use it carefully. Anyone without botox will have lines when they laugh, smile or animate their face, but if your face is rested and you see a faint line on your forehead or by your brows, those may develop into wrinkles with time. Injecting the toxin will relax the muscle below, preventing a dynamic line from becoming static, says Dr Bijlani. But if you inject it too early (or too much), the muscles and the skin on top of it can become thin and flattened, making the look of wrinkles and the surrounding veins even more evident.
While this is all true, Vasunia suggests that if you can wait, you should. “The reason is more neurological. Your reasoning skills, abstract thought, and cognition skills are still developing before you’re in your late 20s. Your thought processes, ideologies and your idea of self are likely to change.” Choosing to get a filler or botox doesn't necessarily mean that you’re not body positive or happy or comfortable in your skin. It simply means your brain might not be ready yet.