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By Holly Royce, 9Honey
These days getting Botox is as easy as buying your morning coffee, it's readily accessible. But just like you may need an oat milk latte to get your day started, Botox and filler may not be the right answer for you — even if the 'injector' down the road is offering a good deal or social media's misguided idea of 'beauty' has you convinced you need it.
It's the "trivialisation" of the industry that aesthetic physician Dr Joseph Hkeik believes is responsible for people getting treatments that don't match their concerns, and the rise of the 'filtered look' – think over-plumped lips, sculpted cheeks and shiny foreheads.
"Is there a concern? Is there an issue with my face? And are Botox and filler the right solution?" Dr Hkeik stresses are the questions people considering injectables need to ask themselves before they even think about booking an appointment.
"I say 'no' so many more times in my day than I say 'yes'," Dr Hkeik admits, when people come to his clinic in search of Botox or filler.
With 20-plus years' experience and well-known high-profile faces rounding out his client list, Dr Hkeik holds concerns for anyone who puts their face in the hands of injectors who only have Botox and filler on their treatment menus. More often than not, a jab is not what they need and sometimes the solution is as simple as a skincare tweak.
"We need to find a reason to do the treatment," says Dr Hkeik, adding that the good ol' "it's a trend" catch cry isn't enough to warrant a jab.
Pre-pandemic, Australians spent around $300 million a year on anti-wrinkle injections, according to the Australasian College of Cosmetic Surgery, and the flow on from this spending blowout is the rise in younger Australians booking in for "cheek filler to look like Bella Hadid" or "Kylie Jenner lips" without understanding the ramifications of the procedure.
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The ageing process for Aussies starts at 20, when you start to see changes to the skin caused by sun damage. Fast-forward to your 30s and volume loss and muscle changes begin to become visible, which is why tweaking your face unnecessarily too young can have major consequences.
"There is a danger [in getting Botox and filler in your late teens-early 20s] because really you don't need it and [those in their late teens-early 20s] don't understand the ramifications of what they're doing to their face," Dr Hkeik says.
"You can cause harm by getting filler — don't get me wrong, filler is safe in the right hands but if [injectors] aren't experts and put lots of filler in certain areas there's a lot that can go wrong, so you're playing with fire if you don't need to."
"Advanced procedures like filler under the eyes, in the forehead or nose, aren't procedures that you learn in your first year of injecting... to get it right requires decades of experience" — so caution is advised when choosing your injectable specialists.
To put it bluntly, when it's not required "filler can make you look ugly," says Dr Hkeik.
With the cost of injectables varying from hundreds to thousands — depending on where you go and the volume you require — the door is opening up for rogue injectors to enter the beauty space. And while tougher regulations and transparency are needed in the industry, it's important to do your research to make the right choice for you, and your face, because ultimately it's you who will be living with the results for months, sometimes years to come, good or bad.
"Choosing places that only have Botox and filler on their menu is where people are getting it wrong.
"Whether or not you need it, you're going to get a solution that has Botox or filler."
Consumers need to think of treating their face holistically and visiting reputable injectors who preach this mantra, Dr Hkeik says.
"Where experts can look at the face and say, 'Yes, you do have some concerns but it's more related to your skin, it's not related to your structure, it's not related to wrinkles, it's not muscular and it's not volume loss so therefore we don't need to use Botox and filler to fix that issue.'"
And this ability to face read comes with decades of industry experience.
So, Botox buyer beware!
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