Notion of ‘perfection’ compels youth to resort to cosmetic procedures — experts

AMMAN — In pursuit of their perception of “perfection” more and more youth are turning to cosmetic procedures, according to experts.

The “selfie” hashtag on Instagram alone has more than 442 million posts, the “aesthetic” hashtag has about 76.5 million posts.

The main reason why people, specifically women, resort to cosmetic procedures like Botox, fillers, facelifts and even plastic surgeries, is due to their love of beauty and “perfection”, psychiatrist Maen Abki told The Jordan Times on Tuesday.

The psychiatrist noted that “social media platforms have advantages, but their negativities greatly outweigh the positives”.

One of the main reasons why people resort to plastic surgeries and cosmetic procedures, without having any reasonable reason is their dissatisfaction with their face and body appearance, which is “a sign of a weakness of character”, Abki said.

“The number of people getting cosmetic treatments has risen significantly over the past couple of years, especially among young people,” sociologist Hussein Khozahe told The Jordan Times on Tuesday.

Cosmetic procedures are becoming more and more “normalised” in Jordan and they have a dramatic impact on society, he said.

“This booming trend, which shows no signs of slowing down, affects the societal perceptions of what beauty really means”, Khozahe noted.

“From time to time, people like to change their looks, as a way of expressing themselves, but what happens now is that many young people get cosmetic procedures thinking they have flaws, which in fact make them special,” he said.

The pursuit of beauty has led many people to take a loan or to borrow money from friends and family, which causes many family problems and heavy financial burdens, the sociologist said.

Wisam Mohammad, a Jordanian woman in her mid-30s, told The Jordan Times over the phone that most of her friends have had some kind of cosmetic procedures, whether they were surgical or non-surgical.

“Nowadays the perfect pictures posted on social media platforms are bringing many women and girls down,” said Mohammad, noting that most young females in Jordan resort to injectable or surgical procedures in order to have “fuller lips, thinner nose and to look better in selfies”.

“Females and males now rarely take a picture without a filter, because filters make them better versions of themselves,” Mohammad said.

Aminah Bushnaq, a Jordanian woman in her late 40s and who visits her aesthetician almost every two to three months said: “I want to feel good about myself and not young.”

She said that she does not want to judge people’s choices, but she believes that young people are in no need to opt for aesthetic procedures.

“Those treatments are not magic. I do not dislike my face. I love myself the way I am, but when I reached a certain age, I started getting regular Botox injections, to reduce my signs of ageing but not to change my looks”.

Dermatologist Nidal Obeidat said that cosmetic procedures are not for everyone, noting that “there are certain criteria for selecting the procedures and treatments”.

“Unfortunately, nowadays cosmetic centres exaggerate when it comes to injectable procedures, showing that it is okay for every person,” Obeidat told The Jordan Times.