Re-filler for self-esteem. More and more requested touch-ups, even at a young age. Canons approved by social filters, which often end up on the cosmetic surgeon’s table. We talk about it with Dr. Marco Iera, medical specialist in Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery at the Institute Brera Clinic in Milan.
Body positivity according to the aesthetic doctor
Doctor Marco Iera, what is body positivity for you, a doctor specializing in aesthetics?
It is a form of sensitivity. I always try to find the right words during visits to patients who are considering a treatment. Positivity, in the office of an aesthetic doctor, means being able to make people appreciate the diversity. Each face is unique and has its own forms of expression. It is necessary to remember that on a daily basis aesthetic standards and insecurities they are nothing other than thoughts and perceptions. The real is the face, the body, this exists and makes who you are truly unrepeatable, therefore non-standardised.
Among the most requested aesthetic procedures, fillers appear to be in first place, followed by Botox and, among those under 40, laser. Do you understand?
I would say yes, and generally this data they also reflect a generic change underway in aesthetic medicine itself. In recent years we have gone from a approach whose aim was volumization, the filling, the lifting – hence, the risk of seeing very pronounced lips and cheekbones – to a new ultimate goalindicated as prevention or slowing down of aging.
A novelty, without a doubt, it is also attention to the so-called “skin quality”, there skin qualityof its more or compact, radiant, toned appearance, even under 40. A result that can only be achieved by customizing skin treatments, combining multiple techniques in a multi-session, planning process, proceeding through phases of deep care of the appearance of the face.
Photo by Nik Hartley, Styling by Alessandra Corvasce
What drives a woman to undergo treatment?
It is up to us to help every person achieve the best version of yourself, regardless of age, worries and requests. It certainly occurred a lowering of the average age of approach to treatments. First, the typical patient was a lady around the “anta”, with the first signs of aging already visible, if not marked. Today, girls come to me on average young, beautiful.
The wish of remedying has turned into anticipating. The preventive purpose, at this moment, is the most interesting direction of aesthetic medicine. This is why the use of some products has also changed, for example hyaluronic acidwhose purpose, rather than volumizing, today is to biorestructure or biostimulate, i.e. help the skin to best protect yourself from aging maintaining its essential mechanisms in the best conditions.
Does a filler have a psychological impact?
Seeing yourself better from an aesthetic point of view has a proven reflection on the psychic aspect and on life, both internal and relational. It is important to distinguish between cases of requests for more or less radical changes to the appearance: the concept is different and far from both that of improvement and prevention.
How much do you think social media influences requests?
Every day we are confronted with images that, even without wanting to, set canons. From the patients’ point of view, Instagram & co cause a significant impact on the perception of the body and, consequently, also have an impact on self-esteem. Some patients arrive at the studio with their photo pre-edited with filters, asking to be able to look like that version of themselves.
Hence, the task of the plastic surgeon and the doctor in general: explain that many requests cannot be accommodated, why the filler or scalpel is not a digital magic wand that allows everything. It also applies to aging: starting from the assumption that no one likes to grow old, I think that the most intelligent women are those who accept it reasonably, that is, taking care of yourself, just a little more than before. In knowing how to enhance and preserve the peculiarities, lies the “positivity” of every aesthetic discipline.
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