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Injectables, particularly fillers, get a really bad rap.
If it’s not overfilled celebs putting you off, it’s those celebs announcing that they’ve “dissolved all their filler”...often to have it replaced with filler done well…not that they share that bit.
The truth is, injectable treatments like filler and Botox, when done well, are subtle and largely undetectable to the untrained eye. They are tools that just help refine and rejuvenate.
Sadly, the phenomenal fillers and beautiful Botox rarely get a shout out.
If you’re interested in injectables, but want to ensure you stay refreshed and rejuvenated, rather than waxy and weird, here are seven things you can do to ensure you stay on the right side of the line!
1. Choose your practitioner wisely
Training, qualifications and insurance are a prerequisite, but there are heuristics you can use to help decide if they will help you get the aesthetic outcome you’re hoping for.
Choose an injector who looks “normal”. Practitioners are not immune to perception drift and/or BDD and if it’s a look they like, they’ll lean towards delivering the same look for their patients. How they look is a good proxy for how they will make you look. A good practitioner will be happy to decline treatment.
Choose a practitioner who offers a consultation. This is your opportunity to get to know them, to see if they are the right fit for you. You can ask all the questions you have and find out about the treatment options available to you.
You can find hundreds of qualified, trained and insured injectors on Glowday.com.
2. Train yourself to not fixate on “flaws”
By objectively rationalising your “flaws” and their relative (un)importance, you’re better able to make decisions regarding potential treatments and the improvement they might bring to your quality of life.
Remember that aesthetic treatments, for the vast majority of people, are not essential.
3. Stop/limit the use of filters on social media and in photographs
The more subtle the filter, the more potential harm it causes. Filters that smooth and enhance trick you into developing an inaccurate baseline of your own appearance. When you see the unfiltered version, you end up slightly disappointed.
Don’t do it to yourself!
4. Diversify and curate your social media diet
Familiarity breeds attractiveness.
That “Instagram face” you see everywhere - fox eyes + chiselled cheekbones + snatched jaw + dainty nose + rosebud lips - it’s all makeup, fillers and filters. If that’s all you’re exposing yourself to when you’re scrolling your feed, you will become conditioned into thinking that that’s “normal”. It’s not.
Consider curating your feed to vary your visual diet. Ensure that you are seeing and paying attention to “real” faces…and all their differences, pores, blemishes and quirks.
5. Don’t make treatment decisions after spending extended periods on social media
Booking in for that jawline filler after scrolling through IG for an hour before bed is not a great idea. Before making decisions about non-surgical aesthetic treatments, be sure to “cleanse your digital palette”.
6. Leave a decent amount of time between treatments
It’s very easy to lose sight of what your face looked like before you had any treatments. The effects of most injectable treatments linger longer than we think. So even though you think you’ve “got no filler left” the likelihood is, you have!
You can’t have wrinkle relaxing treatments less than 12 weeks apart. And whilst regular treatments are great to maintain results, trying to go a little longer between Botox treatments not only helps keep you from looking weird, it also reduces the chance of you building up resistance to the toxin.
Fillers are a different kettle of fish. Technically, you can have fillers as often as you and your practitioner choose. But thanks to ultrasound, we now know that dermal fillers hang around a lot longer than 6 months…years longer! So don’t be getting your filler every 6 months…doing so risks you getting over-filled and needing to be dissolved.
7. Keep photos and videos of yourself prior to any treatments
These are your true baseline and are a necessary reminder of what you actually look like! If you’re curious about injectables, take these photos of yourself to your consultation, so your practitioner has a good idea of your baseline.
By choosing a practitioner who has your best interests at heart - and not their bank balance - you will be in expert hands and will be able to enjoy the refreshing and rejuvenating effects of injectables without ending up looking like a cyborg.
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