You know when people get that weird “plastic surgery face” wherein you can’t really tell how old they are, but you assume they’re old enough to have visible signs of aging, hence the plastic surgery? It might seem obvious to many that getting plastic surgery when you’re young will effectively make you look older, but now there is science to back it up. Or rather, there’s the opinion of one Dr. Darren McKeown, who has written an article for The Telegraph U.K. telling people to wait until they actually have wrinkles to start Botox injections.
Via The Telegraph:
There is no evidence that in the long term Botox works as a preventative, nor is there any licence to use it as such. The drug works on wrinkles by relaxing the muscles responsible for expression lines and is licensed only for the treatment of moderate to severe frown lines…
…The face is an ever-evolving structure that changes over a lifetime. Botox aims to halt the decline, but long-term overuse of the drug can lead to atrophy of the muscles, which can be particularly noticeable around the eyes, where the face can appear inadvertently aged – despite the lack of wrinkles. This tell-tale sign of treatment, currently sported by a number of celebrities, can be avoided – but it requires judicious use of Botox only when clinically indicated.
This runs counter to the previously reported contention that preventative Botox will actually slow one’s aging process before it even starts. Who’s telling the truth? Well, Dr. McKeown gets paid to inject Botox into people’s faces, so I don’t think he has any motivation to lie. Unless, of course, by writing this article he’s trying to look like a “good, sensible” dispenser of unnecessary surgery, hence attracting more people to his business. But you know what? I’m okay with that. Maybe a sensible, restrained plastic surgeon is the lesser of two evils. Head on down to McKeown’s House of Botox for all your sexy (but subtle) new face needs.
(Image via AwfulPlasticSurgery.com)