Giving young people Botox treatment may restrict their emotional growth, experts warn.<\/p>\n
Writing in the Journal of Aesthetic Nursing, clinicians say there is a growing trend for under-25s to seek the wrinkle-smoothing injections.<\/p>\n
But the research suggests “frozen faces” could stop young people from learning how to express emotions fully.<\/p>\n
A leading body of UK plastic surgeons says injecting teenagers for cosmetic reasons is “morally wrong”.<\/p>\n
Botox and other versions of the toxin work by temporarily paralysing muscles in the upper face to reduce wrinkling when people frown.<\/p>\n
Mimicking to learn<\/strong><\/p>\n Nurse practitioner Helen Collier, who carried out the research, says reality TV shows and celebrity culture are driving young people to idealise the “inexpressive frozen face.”<\/p>\n But she points to a well-known psychological theory, the facial feedback hypothesis, that suggests adolescents learn how best to relate to people by mimicking their facial expressions.<\/p>\n She says: “As a human being our ability to demonstrate a wide range of emotions is very dependent on facial expressions.<\/p>\n “Emotions such as empathy and sympathy help us to survive and grow into confident and communicative adults.”<\/p>\n But she warns that a “growing generation of blank-faced” young people could be harming their ability to correctly convey their feelings.<\/p>\n “If you wipe those expressions out, this might stunt their emotional and social development,” she says.<\/p>\n The research calls for practitioners to use assessment tools to decide whether there are clear clinical reasons for Botox treatment.<\/p>\n Several assessment scales exist that take into account how thick the skin is, how sun-damaged it appears, and the depth of any wrinkles, but experts warn that some Botox clinics are putting financial gain first.<\/p>\n Natural emotions<\/strong><\/p>\n Ms Collier calls on therapists to spend time helping young people boost their confidence rather than reaching for injections.<\/p>\n She adds: “Though most of the effects of the toxin are temporary, research suggests the muscles don’t fully recover from injections.<\/p>\n “We really need to understand the consequences of starting treatments too soon.”<\/p>\n Dr Michael Lewis, a researcher in psychology at Cardiff University, says: “The expressions we make on our face affect the emotions we feel.<\/p>\n “We smile because we are happy, but smiling also makes us happy.<\/p>\n “Treatment with drugs like Botox prevents the patient from being able to make a particular expression and can therefore have an effect on our learning to feel emotions naturally.”<\/p>\n Rajiv Grover, president of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, says: “Injecting teenagers with Botox for cosmetic purposes is morally wrong and something that no ethical practitioner would do.<\/p>\n “This can only exacerbate body image issues at a vulnerable time.”<\/p>\n Ms Collier’s research will be presented at the Clinical Cosmetic and Reconstructive Expo in October.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Giving young people Botox treatment may restrict their emotional growth, experts warn. Writing in the Journal of Aesthetic Nursing, clinicians say there is a growing trend for under-25s to seek the wrinkle-smoothing injections. But the research suggests “frozen faces” could stop young people from learning how to express emotions fully. A leading body of UK […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":47707,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[15],"class_list":["post-47704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-chinese"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47704\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/47707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}