BOTOX: HOW FAR WILL WE GO?
Ah Botox...this miracle product that makes wrinkles disappear like an elixir of youth. How does it work?
Let's start at the beginning. Botox is the commercial name for the botulinum toxin (or botulinum toxin) which is a toxin secreted by Clostridium botulinum, the bacterium responsible for botulism (food poisoning generally contracted during the consumption of canned food and responsible for muscular paralysis).It is a protein whose neurotoxic properties make it the most powerful poison known. The toxin is thermolabile but resistant to acids and digestive juices.
Botox: what is it used for?
There are several types of use of botox in reality but we will focus on the field of aesthetics.
By injecting low doses of botulinum toxin, one literally paralyses the muscles, which makes it possible to reduce expression lines for a few months. Result: fewer wrinkles but a "frozen", mono expressive face.
Thus, the treated areas are in particular the forehead wrinkles (we freeze the "rising" muscles), the "lion" wrinkles (we freeze the frowning muscles), the "crow's feet" wrinkles at the outer corner of the eyes (we freeze the "laughing" muscles).
The social phenomenon
At first, the subject was taboo: women who used this technique did not brag about it. Then certain languages began to break loose in the entertainment industry. Some artists who had been "preserved" in this way (and in a slightly more subtle way than with a facelift) admitted having recourse to botox injections.
That's when it started to tickle me: expressions are the basis of an actress's work, aren't they? Yet we started to see mono-expressive actresses, smooth, getting angry without frowning.
Fortunately, many realized the stupidity and did not repeat the injections, some even militate against botox. There is a growing awareness in Hollywood.
After this introduction, let's take a look at what is frightening: the democratization of Botox.
To top it all off, the concept of Botox Party is quite hallucinating: you invite your girlfriends to a small meeting (not tupperware but botox) to get injections, at best by a doctor, often by the hostess (who gets a nice discount on the product).
The Botox propaganda
The botox propaganda on blogs has become as natural as presenting the latest anti-wrinkle cream. So far, everyone does what they want, if using botox or other aesthetic medicine can help someone to get better and accept themselves better: why not?
Where it's starting to bother me is that bloggers can have an influence on their readers (what beauty addict has never fallen for a product shown by a blogger in a totally compulsive way?).
A few years ago, we used to complain about magazines that offered a distorted and photoshopped image of women: we don't do any better today on the blog platform. In the past, we were angry at women's magazines for making us believe that the norm was size 34-36, today I'm angry at blogs for making us believe that it's normal and natural to do (or even try, "for fun") botox injections (I'm not even talking about injections in the lips and other cheerful things).
The quest for youth
There's a ton of articles on botox today, from bloggers 20 years old. 20 years old. The world is going crazy, people are advocating Botox from the age of 18 and even younger subjects are regularly discussed. Actresses who go to castings for "teenage" series (Glee etc) also get injections to look "fresher".
The business of cosmetic medicine is booming, playing on our doubts and weaknesses (not to mention the fashion effect) and at the same time aggravating the insecurity of those who have not gone under the needle.
Let's be realistic and a little wiser
Let's not forget that the condition of our skin depends largely on our lifestyle: no smoking, sun exposure, practice of sports, good food hygiene. We can help ourselves with anti-aging creams to keep a good hydration of the skin and a good elasticity. And the arrival of wrinkles is not a drama, if you have wrinkles it is because you have lived through good or bad times but that's what you are. And don't tell me that you have never found charm in people marked by wrinkles? Magnetism?
I'm curious to know your opinion on the subject, were you attracted or not by Botox? What do you think of this trivialization and this "propaganda" on the blogosphere?