So today I had a facial laser treatment done called Clear+Brilliant. This is my second treatment and I am pretty stoked. Basically it helps with fine lines, wrinkles, dark spots, acne scars... and it just generally brightens up your complexion. My favorite thing it has done so far is lighten my freckles!! Yes!I was offered these treatments by a company in exchange for YouTube videos as a trade. They are expensive and a little painful and I am not sure I would have taken the leap into the world of medical treatments had it not have been for the opportunity sort of landing in my lap. This office also does a bevy of other treatments-- Juvederm, Botox, Velashape... you name it, they have it. And I do definitely feel that once you start getting treatments that make you feel good, you start thinking about other treatments that might make you feel even better!
So where is the line?
Honestly, I don't judge anyone that does anything to themselves. Fillers, tattoos, implants, plastic surgery. Whatever. It's your body honey! Who am I to judge?? I do also believe that some people do these things for the right reasons and some people do these things because of societal pressures and mental disorders. But again... I haven't walked a mile in your shoes.
I myself feel that there is a fine line between light upkeep and going overboard. This is totally a personal feeling about what is right for me. I know I won't ever get plastic surgery. Having heart surgery twice in my early 20's scared me enough and I don't think I could ever do that electively. Fillers and injectables and laser treatments (oh my!) are another world. Obviously I am not against laser treatments. But even those aren't invasive. At most it feels like a sunburn for a day and then you are back to normal. And it doesn't change the shape of your face. It just brightens your skin a little. Fillers and injectables scare me. I see SO many young girls getting lip fillers and botox when they don't need it and honestly I just think it looks kind of weird. The nurse at my office told me she has 16 year old girls going in there for preventive Botox and lip fillers and they jones like addicts when they haven't been in a while. She said one girl was like "I need my syringe!" And once you pass a point, everyone kind of starts to look the same. You see it a lot in LA. All of these mid 40's women that look like the exact same person. My gym is crawling with them.
Are there things I don't like about my face? Of course! Do I wish my lips were fuller? Oh my god yes! But I really love that my face is my own unique face. And I would be horrified if I impaired my face and it turned out badly when I have a perfectly fine face to start with. I do like to use makeup and clothing and accessories to jazz myself up. I like to be able to be a chameleon and change how I look. But I also like to wash it off at the end of the day, look in the mirror, and see me. The same face I have looked at for the last 33 years. If I can stave off some wrinkles with a little face cream or a laser treatment or two, fine. And who knows... maybe in another 10 years I will be a Botox fanatic. But for right now, I will embrace the way I am aging.
And that one little smile line on the left side of my mouth is staying no matter what. I earned that sucker.
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