By Dr. Paul Munsanje
This week everyone has been talking about Tulisa, a beautiful ‘girl next door’ who recently appeared in court, and subsequently had an unrelated trial by tabloid and social media for a suspected lip job and cheek work. Indeed it was later confirmed by Tulisa that she had indeed had cosmetic work. But why has there been such an interest in Tulisa’s face? For most, it is Tulisa’s age. Why is a beautiful, 26 year old girl wanting to change her appearance? We asked Dr. Paul Munsanje, of Amara Aesthetics and Beyond MediSpa Harvey Nichols in Knightsbridge; How young is too young when it comes to botox, fillers and other cosmetic procedures?
“I get a lot of questions from nervous first timers in my clinic. ‘Am I too young to have cosmetic work done?’; ‘Do a lot of people get this done?’ and ‘What age do most people start getting treatments’. In the past 10 years the big question seems to have changed from ‘Should I get some work done’ to ‘Have I left it too late?'”
So how young is too young?
In my clinics, 19-35 is the age group where lip fillers are most popular. Thankfully most girls want a subtle ‘did she?’ rather than a ‘no she didnt!’ look. However, some girls don’t realise that lip fillers, as a medical procedure, have risks and complications. Although lip fillers generally last between 6 and 18 months, they need to be taken more seriously than getting your hair dyed a different colour.
To me it is fairly obvious that Tulisa has just had her lips done. I think if we’d never seen Tulisa before we probably wouldn’t have noticed her new lips and she would just be seen as having nice lips. Some of the worst pictures are clearly from a bad angle and taken while the lips are moving which could make anyone look like they had work done! Also often people’s lips swell in the first day after fillers so she may have simply timed her treatment badly!
Botox is a completely different animal. Very few girls who come in for treatment are under 25. In fact, most women starting now come for their first treatment between 28 and 35. Some girls come younger thinking they need it for prevention. I happily explain that yes, botox is even better as prevention than as cure, but if you are under 25 and you don’t have a line that stays when you stop frowning, you don’t need it. I think some of my happiest customers are those that are told they don’t need any work done yet!
The best thing about a gentle filler or Botox treatment is it can be done in such a way that a treatment is ‘plausibly deniable’. If you swore to your best friend that you did not have botox/fillers would they believe you? If the answer is no, then your treatment is not plausibly deniable. Let me give you some examples. Halle Berry.. plausibly deniable. Lulu.. not plausibly deniable. Tulisa … not plausibly deniable. Less is more!
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