Is plastic surgery the new attractive?

You can't ignore it: everywhere you look, you see full lips. When I compare a photo of myself from when I was fourteen with girls who are fourteen now, I sometimes get a little shocked. What happened? Why do I suddenly see more teenagers walking around with injected lips than I ever did in my life?

Okay, times change. I get it. Everything has become faster, technology has improved. We are watching the lives of the Kardashians and their countless surgeries and suddenly see that there is such a thing as ‘a big nose’. We read in magazines that men find the full lips of Angelina Jolie the sexiest, and hey, there just happen to be injections for that, so why not? Then we see it on YouTube with a few big influencers, and the clinics are being bombarded with calls. But why do we let ourselves be so influenced by what other people think and do these days?

We suddenly see that there is such a thing as
‘a big nose’ exists

The worst thing about lip fillers, botox and other injections if you ask me? You often see that something is not quite right. If I randomly take a look in Amsterdam, I can easily point out where the few crooked mouths are. The more injections, the more crooked the mouth. And I'm not here to bash others hard (do what makes you feel good), but can I just be really surprised about what we all do these days to make those Insta-filters a reality? What if the Duckstad lip is ‘out’ next year (just think of thin eyebrows) and you've just spent a fortune on permanent fillers, is there still a way back?

Do we think about that too?

‘Seventeen years old and already three injection treatments later...’

I recently spoke to a girl (not yet eighteen) who had already undergone three small ‘procedures’ because she really thought full lips were much prettier. It meant confidence for her. Officially, such a procedure shouldn't even be allowed under eighteen, but there are plenty of doctors who don't care about that. It's fashion. Teenagers want it. And isn't it also a bit of the time we live in now? Everyone does it, so you/he/she/I do too.

If you ask me, we Generation Y kids have all become a bit crazy, constantly looking for validation from others. In the Quarter Life Crisis. Totally overstimulated. And I'm not going to act like a saint, I'm also participating in it hard. I also wonder if I took a stupid photo when I don't have enough ‘hearts’ for my feeling on Instagram. Look, that we fluff things up online with a filter here and there is fine, I also happily participate in that. But can we please just leave our own authentic face as it is, before there are only Katrien Ducks and Kardashians walking around in the world? Besides: if you only get your confidence from your appearance, then I think you're going to have a huge problem later in life. Why not be proud of what you have? Uniqueness is actually the best thing that exists!

With a big fat natural smack from me and your upper lip.