Approximately 82% of Botox recipients typically see results within a week of their treatment, but there’s a new population of Botox patients in the world. Many millennials are spending money to have Botox procedures done to improve the appearance of their face and other body parts.
In the U.S., approximately 46.5 million surgical procedures are performed each year.
The Botox phenomenon is usually centralized in Los Angeles and surrounding communities, but social media has created such a need for the perfect body that the trend has spread to even the remotest communities in the United States.
According to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, Botox treatments for patients 19 to 34 years old increased by 41% between 2011 and 2015. Now, there are more than half a million procedures performed on patients within this age range annually.
Minneapolis cosmetic procedure offices have seen the number of millennial patients almost double in the last five years. Many experts in the industry believe the increasing numbers are a result of Botox being marketed as a preventative measure rather than as a treatment.
While Botox was originally introduced as a treatment for issues such as wrinkles and sagging skin, it has effectively changed the way that Americans perceive aging and beauty. Dana Berkowitz, a Louisiana State sociology and gender studies professor, believes that it has completely altered what we perceive as a “normal” aging face.
Berkowitz is also the author of “Botox Nation: Changing the Face of America,” which delves even deeper into the issue of how American women perceive aging and facial beauty. The population of Botox users is growing, and they’re seemingly getting younger as well.
Berkowitz explained exactly how people are coming to think of Botox as a preventative measure. Younger people may become preoccupied with wrinkles, and Botox “can then prevent those wrinkles from forming in the future and this is, you know, very seductive” to younger people.
Despite the preventative benefits that many patients see, the truth is that Botox needs to be applied every four to six months in order to maintain effectiveness. In addition, the procedure is expensive and often not covered by insurance.
Botox, as described by Berkowitz, is a “symptom and a shaper” of American beauty standards.
