The young clientele requests to modify lips, cheekbones and nose so that their face resembles the one offered by the filters
‘Top Model Look’ is the name of an Instagram filter that smooths skin, removes blemishes, refines the nose, and plumps lips and cheekbones. It is also the name of a facial remodeling treatment, a type of aesthetic medicine offered by several Spanish clinics. It matters little whether it was the chicken or the egg first, because the reality is that the aesthetic medicine and the social networks they go so hand in hand that 20-year-olds, mainly women, go to clinics looking for hyaluronic acid and botulinum toxin fillers with the aim of making their face look like the one offered by the filters. Aesthetic medicine has become a goose that lays golden eggs, with an annual turnover in Spain of more than 3,500 million euros in 2021. It is thirteen times what the cinema billed and double that of the video game sector.
“Every time I upload a story to Instagram, one of your questions is related to this, so you will be quite interested & rdquor ;, Rosario Matthew, 23, an ‘influencer’ and famous for having competed in the ‘reality’ ‘The island of temptations’. She then she starts enumerating aesthetic operations that have been done: a kilo of prosthesis in the chest or hyaluronic acid in the lips, which “recommends 100% & rdquor ;. And he adds: “I also do the same thing about removing the bichat balls [tejido graso bajo los pómulos que, al desaparecer, perfila la cara]. I, to make myself, would do everything & rdquor ;.
The television program that made Rosario a star counts among its advertisers with Dorsia clinics, the “clinic of tempters.” On her Instagram account, it is common to see videos of other contestants with messages like this: “Yun, from ‘La Isla de las Tentaciones’, has trusted us to get a lip augmentation & rdquor ;. Edition after edition, the program leads in the adolescent and youth segmentreaching screen shares of almost 50% between 13 and 24 years old, and is especially successful among women.
obsession with the face
On social networks, where young people spend most of their time, it is increasingly common to see ‘influencers’ who explain their aesthetic operations, in many cases mentioning where they have had them done, and even encourage their followers to do the same. It is not surprising that heThe average age of access to aesthetic medicine has fallen from 35 to 20 yearsas stated in the latest study by the Spanish Society of Aesthetic Medicine (SEME).
“We are struck by this new group that comes to modify a feature, especially lips, cheekbones and nose, because at that age there is still no aging & rdquor ;, he explains Peter Vega, doctor of aesthetic medicine and treasurer of SEME, who points out that the way they reach clinics is the internet, not by recommendations or advertising. “They come with the photo of what they want & rdquor ;, she says. And that photo is not necessarily that of an actress or model, as was the case in the past, but of themselves under a social network filter. Facial treatments are already 69% of the turnover of aesthetic centers.
“They come with a photo of what they want, usually of themselves under the filter of a social network & rdquor ;, says Dr. Petra Vega
From the Spanish Society of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery (SECPRE), its vice president of aesthetic surgery, Nelida Grande, points to the “continuous bombardment & rdquor; of the networks, which generates a “higher level of dissatisfaction about the body & rdquor; and that takes them to these treatments “before it’s really time to do it & rdquor ;. Minors are not operated on unless it is a case of asymmetry, with some pathology and with a psychological assessment, as explained by the plastic surgeon. From the age of 18 or 20, they try to guide them. “Especially to lower expectations that are not real & rdquor ;, she explains.
Dove Borregon, dermatologist and medical director of the Kalosia clinic, points to the digitization imposed by the pandemic as one of the causes of the boom: seeing our face during a video call allows us to look at ourselves, “at our defects & rdquor ;. Young women come to her clinic to correct lips, dark circles & mldr; “The referents of now already have something done, and it has been normalized. It is no longer ugly to talk about what you do to yourself & rdquor ;, she points out. Dr. Vega insists: “Her icons are people who end up deformed. I ask the young people who come for consultation to reflect on whether everything they themselves put on networks is real. So, why is this photo you bring me going to be? & rdquor ;. Borregón adds: “Sometimes they ask you a lot and we are the doctors who have to tell them no”.
From necessity to whim
María Camacho had her breasts operated on at the age of 30. “I had it very clear since I was very little, my bras always had padding & rdquor ;, she explains. When she had “the money and the strength to do it & rdquor; she went to several doctors. Her experience was not very positive. “I was about to change my mind because they talked to you about some prosthetics or others as if they were pants, it seemed horrible to me& rdquor ;, he recounts.
Later, she went to another doctor who suggested that she not be in a hurry, that she might want to be a mother and that it would be better for her to wait. Although she ended up ignoring him, those objections were precisely what increased her confidence in that doctor. For her, her operation is far from being a taboo: “I celebrate the birthday of my boobs every year with my friends and I have no problem saying I’ve had them done”. However, she is in favor of some kind of prior psychological assessment at a certain age: “It can be a whim that they later regret & rdquor ;.
regrets
Laura -fictitious name- is one of those women who repented. She had her nose operated on as a minor and with her parents’ permission: her prominent septum had been teased since school. Years after her came her lips and a breast augmentation, until he stopped recognizing himself in the photos. She returned to the operating room years later to replace the implants with smaller ones, although what she would have wanted is to “go back in time & rdquor ;. “Nobody advised me well & rdquor ;, she laments.
For young beginners, price is one of the most important variables. Another of the stars of coated paper and owner of several aesthetic clinics, Carla Barberstarred in a controversial episode when he made a raffle with aesthetic interventions. The SEME accused her of breaking the code of ethics by creating false needs in her followers. Barber continues to spread information about the “pinchi pinchi & rdquor; -she that’s what she calls her-she on her networks, in which she assured that she did it “so that people who cannot afford it can access these treatments & rdquor ;.
“We cannot fight against the networks. Before they were the Hollywood artists, now they are the ‘influencers’ & rdquor ;, sums up Dr. Grande. “If you generate so many needs from such a young age, What are they going to expect when they are older?”