to be freaked out by the frozen, filled faces littering our media

[PhelanGood]

Seriously. And I bet they all think nobody can tell! Will this trend ever end?

I'm often too distracted by the botoxed plumped juvedermed visages on display, to concentrate on what the bearer of said face is actually saying! Doesn't help that they can no longer engage viewers with natural facial expressions.

I find it fascinating and alarming that paying to have the world's deadliest poison injected into you is becoming the norm, especially when all it achieves is a face that doesn't move, and ultimately a weakening of the muscles, which surely are the thing we should be strengthening to prevent wrinkles long term..!? And concentrating on eliminating toxins!

(Obviously I'm not talking about its medicinal uses such as preventing migraines.)

Fillers are even worse, they look absolutely repugnant to me. Especially in the lips! Who wants to kiss a pair of plumped up plastic lips that look like you've had an allergic reaction.

Am I being unreasonable, and am I alone in finding this trend so disturbing and weird... do I need to get with the times? Are injectables just today's "whalebone corsets"? It's got to a point where I actually adore seeing lovely wrinkled faces on the screen as it's so rare now.

I love me a bit of Botox! My dentist does it. Can't wait to not be pregnant and get my forehead, crows feet, and 11s done again.

When I'm older I'll also get fillers when my cheeks start drooping.

Each to their own.

Love my 'baby botox' - was absolutely thrilled when I had it done - looked like me but fresher and brighter and less haggard looking. Don't look any younger than my age and I'm not trying to. But I had the crows feet of someone 10 years older - which now I don't.

Agree completely with @Amaretti40. My husband didn't notice - my dermatologist said that hers never notices when she has hers done.

This thread has reminded me to make an appointment to get mine topped up, in fact!

A facelift MrsKoala? Surely you can't need one.

I'm lucky in that I look quite a bit younger than I am so no need for any help. To each her own though.

You can stop looking young for your age though, it's not a permanent thing...

Prunella Scales hasnt had anything done and looks great. Shes in her 80s She was in her late 40s while doing the second series of Fawlty Towers and looked a lot younger then too.

Kylie Kardashian's face is so distorted, it's very sad and i hate my daughters wanting to buy her products to look like her. You can't look like her without surgery and botox!

What annoys me is these self absorbed twats along with the media project it as the norm to our children. Bollox to that. I hate to criticise anyone's appearance but words like duckface, fishlips, stillfod are used in our house to describe both male and female worshipers of the dreaded poison.

someone who's done their lips very well is Sienna Miller.

HelenaDove can I just ask how you know Prunella Scales hasn't had anything done.

In response to some earlier posters - how is it misogynistic to be freaked out at the growing number of faces that don't move? I can't help how I feel, and it's not bullying to say it can make people look like robots. It literally can and often does.

It makes me genuinely sad and alarmed that these ladies felt pressured by the media, were scared of the visible signs of ageing, or felt so insecure about their God given looks, that they go so far as to pay through the noses to get toxic poison and acids injected into their faces so parts of them won't move. How does it empower a woman to have less facial expressions, to risk their health so their face looks younger to others, to pump up their lips like a lilo- especially if inspired by the likes of Kylie Jenner who lately admitted she was driven to do this after a boy she kissed said her natural lips were too thin. Did she do this as a feminist statement?

This isn't the same as applying a little lipstick to enhance or draw attention to natural features. Or getting a facial to cleanse and feed our skin. I see that as an act of self love. When it comes to the point of risking health, I see it acts as self hatred. This is my view and opinion remember towards myself and I don't expect anyone to necessarily agree. Of course a woman has every right to do what she wants to herself and if lilo lips make her feel confident, bring on the syringe.

I just feel many of these individuals - men and ladies - are crossing that line. Not a moral line. And it is their right. However I just feel it is sad when someone puts their looks (what the world sees, how they present) before health. Or especially when it falls into dysmorphic territory. Or becomes addictive..

It's a very interesting subject. For example take a woman with back problems who chooses to wear heels as she feels empowered and more confident that way...one viewing is that that's all well and good if she chooses to risk her health to look better. Another view is - why does she feel looking taller with longer legs makes her feel empowered? Because it makes her look more attractive? Because it makes her more like a man? Or just because she has a kick ass pair of spikes at the end of her feet and loves the feeling of it... Could be either. But it depends which one it is as to whether it's empowering.

Sorry I need to rush off. Thanks so much for all posts! Love reading them

@PhelanGood very interesting subject

To offer an alternative POV, as someone you feel pity for (based on what you've said in your very interesting post)

This isn't the same as applying a little lipstick to enhance or draw attention to natural features. Or getting a facial to cleanse and feed our skin. I see that as an act of self love. When it comes to the point of risking health, I see it acts as self hatred.

Hair dye poses a risk due to the possibility of PPD allergy
Teeth whitening poses a health risk
Eye makeup can be detrimental to contact lens wearers

If a facial is acceptable, is there a limit of what kind of facial? Would a facial that involves a chemical peel to exfoliate and renew the skin be considered self love (given the risks of chemical exfoliation)? Or would you consider that self hatred as well? Interested to understand your take on other beauty treatments

It makes me genuinely sad and alarmed that these ladies felt pressured by the media, were scared of the visible signs of ageing, or felt so insecure about their God given looks, that they go so far as to pay through the noses to get toxic poison and acids injected into their faces so parts of them won't move. How does it empower a woman to have less facial expressions, to risk their health so their face looks younger to others

There's a difference between feeling insecure vs and feeling a boost. I would feel insecure without makeup and a decent haircut for everyday professional life. I didn't feel insecure about my crow's feet - but a little light botox to soften the appearance of deeper wrinkles into lighter creases has given me a lovely confidence boost. Everything still moves, the grooves around my eyes just aren't as deep as they were. I'm not scared of the signs of ageing, but I don't particularly like looking like someone in my mid 40s at the age of just 35. I feel happier looking in the mirror as I look less haggard and a lot fresher. Same as I like looking in the mirror more when I get my brows threaded and my hair cut.

Totally respect your POV and that you feel sad about my choices. But just offering a counterpoint as someone who's made that choice

@bananafish - I'm sorry, I just wrote a super long epic reply to your post and my phone powered off just before I pressed 'post', so I need to just cry and eat icecream for a while til I get over it and will be back later to respond when my phone's charged up! In the meantime thanks so much for sharing your experience, it's really made me think!

Look at this photo: Helen Mirren (72) Emma Thompson (57) Kristen Scott Thomas (57) and Nicole Kidman (50)

Don't think Helen is on the record about any procedures. Emma has said she'll never have cosmetic surgery (or Botox, fillers), Kristen hasn't but feels shit about the way she looks. Nicole Kidman doesn't look good IMHO.

granny when she was in Fawlty Towers Series 2 she was in her late forties THEN (1979) and looks very early 30s So i reckon she is one of those people who looks younger than they are.

Lately I've been noticing surgery which is out of character for people in films.

I watched Lolita a few weeks back and Melanie Griffith's lip surgery is completely at odds with the period of the movie.

Same as Paz De La Heurta in Bare. A casually dressed drifter wouldn't have OTT pouting lips. It didn't for with the character.

Of course women, or men, are entitled to do what they like to their faces but I just think it is very sad that they feel the need to.

So many actresses and women on tv like Amanda Holden just look so strange. They lose all character in their faces. Look at Judi Dench, she has wrinkles and grey hair but what an attractive woman she is

I am much better-looking with a few lines. It isn't wrinkles, it's definition.

Don't think Sandi Toksvig has had anything done. I'm not mad about her current haircut, but other than that, think she looks great.

Botox doesn't freeze your face, it inhibits the chemicals that activate muscles to fold the skin, allowing the skin to heal naturally. (If you like, you can make a point of scowling and frowning after you've had it done and the skin won't heal and cracks will remain).

It breaks down and after two weeks is no longer present in your system. I had it last year after agonising along similar lines to the OP and I was almost disappointed at what a piddling little procedure it was. The doctor spent half an hour telling me about it and literally a minute and a half actually doing it. No side effects, but perfectly smooth skin after three days. I've been careful to frown less, and haven't needed any more done since. Nobody I know has noticed, although I feel much better myself.

If your friends/celebrities are looking really stretched and overdone, it's not Botox they've had, it's something else. Botox is non surgical and doesn't stretch the skin. It just allows it to heal a bit.

I really do love the scaremongering about deadly poisons as if doctors never administer drugs to patients that would indeed be dangerous if taken unregulated, in huge quantities, by an idiot. And I really love those of you who, like OP, are claiming you can "always tell" if someone's had something done. Botox isn't the only procedure I've had, and I absolutely guarantee you would never guess by looking at me what I HAVE had done.

Lip fillers do generally look like shit, I agree, but I am hugely in favour of women's right to look a way I personally don't care for, without calling them disgusting names like "tightened trollops". What the fuck is that about, OP. You should be ashamed.

In fact, it reads to me as if you'd like to get some procedures done but think it would somehow be immoral not to. That's your right, I walked around with a number of disfigurements for a long time because I thought it would make me a bad human to get them fixed.

Luckily I eventually realised it was all horseshit, had it done and am much happier. If you don't like that, I won't call you a disgusting misogynistic name for it.

Too much botox does give an over stretched and frozen look.

Obviously I meant 'would be immoral to'. I would say it's the Botox making me thick, but there's been none in my system for 18 months.

Well, Botox is broken down and leaves the system within a couple of weeks (maybe a bit longer if you've had a higher than standard dose), so if there's something still leaving you looking like an egg after it's gone, see a doctor.

The people who really would be able to tell are hairdressers. They can see the scars behind the ears when someone's had a facelift. Botox doesn't leave any marks at all.

I used to get Botox; just in my forehead and latterly the '11s' but this was 2009-2015, these past couple of years I've stopped it.

I've stopped it because it became so commonplace, literally every woman my age (early/mid thirties) has had it done or knows somebody who has, so that's it for me and Botox. The secret is out. Everybody can now spot it a mile off because they're doing it too.

As for the lips, well they just look shit, don't they?

It doesn't make people look younger, in general. It makes people look as if they've had work done.