Why 'fear of the unknown' and judgement is putting midlife women off aesthetics
When I think about Leslie Ash's lip filler fiasco back in the early 2000s, I have no memory of how her lips actually looked. All I can remember is how she was ridiculed in the press, and mocked to this day for her 'trout pout.'
I'm not the only one who remembers the barrage of mockery she faced, with aesthetics expert Dr. Sophie Shotter sharing she believes the overwhelmingly negative reaction to Leslie's filler is why so many women, especially those in midlife, are wary of tweakments to this day.
"Women in midlife are the ones who remember what happened to Leslie Ash and I think that's where the fear of aesthetics comes from," Dr. Sophie, who is a faculty member of theAllergan Medical Institute (AMI), tells me.
The majority of Dr. Sophie's clients are in midlife and she reports seeing a lot of anxiety around the fear of being judged for having aesthetic procedures, in part due to the reaction faced by Leslie and other women in the media.
Leslie herself spoke of the "shame" she felt, with Dr. Sophie noting that at the time it was the minority booking in for treatments, so as a nation we were less open-minded.
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"Very few people were doing anything beyond the odd facial, whereas nowadays we know the power of these treatments, plus the fact that they're accessible means there's certainly less stigma," Dr. Sophie says.
The tide is turning in our willingness to be open about what we've had done, too, comments Dr. Sophie. "My midlife clients aren't taking to social media to share what they've done, but they're being open with friends and I don't think those conversations were happening in the same way before."
The fear of the unknown
That's not to say there isn't still a stigma felt by women in midlife – an overhang from the circle of shame on magazine covers, perhaps.
"The biggest fear is of unnatural results," Dr. Sophie shares, explaining that putting your face in the hands of someone else is a huge leap of trust.
"Midlife for women is often really tough," sympathises Dr. Sophie, who notes that 44 is when we see the biggest ageing spurt in women. "Clients regularly tell me they never thought they'd have any work done, that nothing would bother them enough, but now it does. Until you hit that period of your life where you change more rapidly, you don't know how you're going to feel about it," Dr. Sophie laments.
She explains that with her midlife clients, the process is complaint-driven as opposed to treatment-led. "My clients explain what is bothering them, from skin laxity to a sagging jawline, and we work out the best treatments for them.
"It's very rare somebody will come to the clinic asking for a treatment they've seen on social media. They're seeking expert opinion on the issue bothering them, and it's not my job to "persuade" them on what to have, but to offer guidance and support."
With that in mind, Dr. Sophie never consults and treats on the same day, giving clients time to process what they've heard and decide what's right for them.
To help clients apprehensive about booking their first procedures, Dr. Sophie worked with Allergan Aesthetics to create an A-Z Glossary of aesthetics terms, bridging the gap between patient and practitioner language barriers - because confusing lingo can cause misunderstanding and further worry.
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Anxiety is normal
Dr. Sophie adds that feeling apprehensive ahead of an aesthetic procedure is to be expected.
"I always say a healthy degree of anxiety is a good thing," she reassures. "This isn't something to take lightly. It's something to do due diligence.
"We're undertaking something for the first time and it's on our face - the first thing people look at about us so it would be a little odd if someone were too flippant about it!"
Midlife celebrities and aesthetics
If you run through a list of midlife celebrities in your mind, people such as Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Lopez and Reese Witherspoon likely pop up. All of them are in their 50s, yet none of them seem to be ageing – which can make us feel inadequate if we're a similar age.
If we learned anything from Leslie Ash's experience, is that it's best not to comment on the appearance of others, but Dr. Sophie does not it's crucial to remember that whether they've had a helping hand or not, it's the jobs of these stars too look incredible and ageless.
"Whether or not they've had injectables is almost irrelevant because they have whole teams looking after them," Dr. Sophie emphasises. "They have chefs and trainers and stylists to keep them looking the way they do.
"They look brilliant, but they haven't aged how they would have if they'd done it naturally."
It's worth keeping that in mind when you hit 44 and beyond!
Read Allergans's A-Z Glossary here
