Advice from Dr Yiannis Valilas to all these young people who seek facial aesthetic treatment prematurely.
We live in a society driven by a system which pushes trends and stereotypes in our attention every day. We think that in order to be accepted and successful we have to look more like what we see rather than a natural enchantment of ourselves.
As a result, facial aesthetics has come a long way – from an era where all people wanted was to generally look well, to an era where people want to look different. I have patients bringing photos of celebrities asking me to change their lips to those of the specific celebrity. Or, I have patients influenced by fashion and beauty trends who want to follow these trends in order to feel accepted, included or noticeable. This breaks my heart because I am passionate about individuality.
Nature has no standards; it is one of the greatest manifestations of imperfections and yet it looks so beautiful. Beauty is not hidden behind mathematical equations created by experts or social media trends, but it is an averageness and uniqueness which cannot be compared or judged.
I do believe we are nothing away from our individual beauty which makes us unique. And this is exactly the reason why we should move away from certain standards that make us feel pressured to seek facial aesthetic treatments just to feel inclusive. Why would we want to change the way we look when we all have an innate sensory attraction to each other’s imperfections?
So, I have two pieces of advice to give to the younger generation:
- Beauty is averageness which is exactly why we are all so beautiful. If you want to change something aim for a holistic treatment to make you look fresh rather than treat areas in isolation. I find that in most of the cases this is a trigger for someone to start thinking of what else he could do to take care of his well-being in order to live a longer, healthier life and slow down the signs of body, facial and mental ageing. At the end of the day all we need is balance but balance is not something you find, it’s something you create, and
- As Judy Dench mentioned once: “Don’t prioritise your looks my friend as they won’t last the journey. Prioritise the uniqueness that makes you you and the invisible magnet that draws in other like-minded souls to dance in your orbit. This is the thing which will always get better.”
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