Vampire facials, under-eye fillers, ‘prejuvenation’: how did cosmetic tweakments get so extreme? | Georgina Lawton

eeveryone goes through it: reckoning with their own mortality in the mirror, fiddling with the bags under their eyes, and tugging at the folds of sagging skin. Do I look a little rude? It’s part of the human condition to fear aging, but among millennials and Gen Z, there seems to be an increased anxiety about aging, coupled with an increasingly casual attitude toward fillers and botox compared to previous generations.

Almost half of millennial women polled by the BBC in 2019 said they thought having a cosmetic procedure was similar to a haircut. I can say from experience that it is not. Like many, I have fallen victim to the negative anti-aging rhetoric. After months of staring at my tired face on Zoom calls during lockdown, it felt like my hot years were slipping through my fingers. When the world opened up I found a doctor to “restore” my hollowed out under eyes with 1ml filler. I was only 28.

I spent £700 on two rounds of filler with a trained doctor who placed it in the upper part of my cheek instead of directly under my eye to reduce the risk associated with under eye procedures. But even though I paid my best shot and went to the famous Harley Street, my face didn’t take so well to the second round of fillers and it left a visible hollow under one eye that I’m now obsessed with taking pictures of.

However, increasingly “Settings” is still running through my mind. Recently, after a period of prolonged stress, I became paranoid that it showed on my face. “I’m getting Botox,” I told several friends, convinced I was developing forehead wrinkles. But I didn’t give in and I’m glad that after I started taking care of myself again, they disappeared.

Beauty enhancements such as dermal fillers and botox are increasingly preferred by younger people. In 2022, 27% of patients in the US will receive Botox were 34 or younger, compared to 21% in 2015, according to the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. The idea is to stop wrinkles before they start, with some calling it “baby botox” or “pre-rejuvenation.” On TikTok, young people are praised for incorporating these treatments into their skin care routine, with many equating it to self-care. Anecdotally, about a third of my girlfriends, all of us in our early 20s, have caught on to the trend. One got botox mostly for her wedding. Another has had fillers in her lips and cheeks since her late 20s.

So why are we all so desperate to pretend we’re not getting old? There is a collective and largely premature fear of aging. For my generation, being online all the time and looking into other people’s lives must also be a factor. It keeps us locked in a state of constant comparison. Then comes the flood of bad news about war and the climate crisis makes us all depressed, anxious and nervous about death. And in a time of economic uncertainty, millennials and Gen Z are also unable to tick off the traditional checkpoints of adulthood, so the idea that many are changing their appearance to turn back the clock makes perfect sense to me. For women, our appearance is ultimately aesthetic capital – and being beautiful can unlock social and professional success.

But these treatments often don’t come with warnings; it is up to the user to investigate the potential pitfalls. Unsuccessful cosmetic procedures among young people are increasing, with too many procedures being carried out in unregulated beauty salons and performed by unqualified specialists. Last month, three women in the U.S. contracted HIV from “vampire facials,” cosmetic procedures designed to rejuvenate the skin, when an unlicensed medical clinic in New Mexico reused needles that should have been discarded. It caused understandable concern worldwide as the first such case of needle-stick transmission during cosmetic surgery.

Chasing youth keeps many of us in a suffocation. And while I’m all for female personal agency when it comes to cosmetic procedures, looking young isn’t a panacea for all of life’s ills. A filler-loving friend told me recently, “I can’t stay 28 forever, but the goal is to look 28 forever.” I’m trying to push back against the message that it’s wrong for women to look their real age. It can be hard to tune out the noise, but the alternative could mean a future marred by self-doubt, expensive treatments, or even regret. I think I’ll stick to under eye bags.