Recently, a friend came round to my house as she wanted to soften some deep set lines and I happily treated her with Botox. When she was leaving she put on big sunglasses and said "I really don't want Sarah to see me. I don't think she approves of stuff like this" as she sidled away, eyes averted, towards her car (Sarah is my neighbour). I felt like I had been complicit in something a bit sordid. This got me thinking, why is there such a stigma around botox when it's such a wonderful treatment?
When it comes down to it I believe there are three types of people:
1) The ones who appreciate that in the right hands botox and fillers can be used in a way to enhance and restore natural beauty and will happily tell people what they have had done, knowing that injectables don't make you look like someone else; they make you look like the best version of you. These tend to be the ones who've had the treatment and know how amazing it is.
2) The ones that truly aren't interested in botox/fillers and wouldn't have a needle near their face if you paid them. Fair enough.
3) The ones who want it... but don't want to admit to it.
The latter group are interesting and make up quite a large proportion of people (although on superficial conversation you may have mistaken them for belonging in the "no way" category!).
But why the secrecy?
My first thought was 'is it because we don't want others to perceive us as vain?' Yet we will colour our hair and put on make up and buy nice clothes, all of which cost money and take time, to make us look more attractive on the outside. So perhaps we are all vain to some degree but what is wrong with wanting to look our best?
I don't understand why people will spend hundreds of pounds per year on lotions and potions which claim to be anti-ageing (I used to be one of them) and yet right here is a treatment that will blow any anti-wrinkle cream out of the water and still people don't want to admit to having it. So why the disparity? The obvious difference is one treatment is rubbed onto your face and the other is injected into your face. Cream = acceptable. Injection = unacceptable. But who made up these rules? The reason that botox has to be injected is because the molecules are too big to pass through the skin barrier so rubbing it onto your skin doesn't do anything. But what if there was a leap in science and a topical form of botox was formulated... would that make it socially acceptable?
Or is it the fact that people don't like the idea of people changing their appearance? But that brings me back to hair dyeing/hair cutting/waxing/eyebrow shaping/lash tinting argument so that doesn't make sense.
Is it the fact people don't like the idea of permanently changing their face? Well, botox works by blocking a neurotransmitter at the muscle and nerve junction but after 3-4 months new transmitters start sprouting and this is when the botox wears off...so it most definitely isn't permanent, just like a haircut.
I am firmly in category number 1 and have no issues in telling people I have botox. Its a truly remarkable treatment in the right hands and is so versatile - it can stop you looking cross, it can stop you looking tired. It can take years off you. It can even stop you sweating and teeth grinding!
Saying that, I do enjoy treating the "secret botoxers" and would always treat any client with the utmost discretion and confidentiality. But my absolute favourite thing is when someone in this category starts singing from the rooftops about what they've had done as they're so pleased.
Anyway, Sarah popped by recently. You remember Sarah? The neighbour that definitely wouldn't approve of botox? Well guess what, she's not a category 2 (to be fair, she did hide it very well - I had firmly placed her in that category too!) She was quietly enquiring about what treatments she would benefit from...
I must admit, I did have a little chuckle to myself.
Perhaps if we were all just a bit more open about it then there wouldn't be such a stigma. But until that time I am happy to treat people who gleefully post their pictures on social media, alongside the ones who haven't even told their husbands that they're having treatment.
Dr Laura Milligan
Optimise Medical
Clinics in Hampshire (Otterbourne, Alresford, Bishops Waltham and Stockbridge)
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