The Beauty of Balance

Dermal filler and muscle relaxant injections are some of the fastest growing treatments in the aesthetic sector. Men, women, and other genders are becoming aware of the power of a subtle enhancement or a reduction of a prominent wrinkle, in making them look less tired, less stressed, or younger.

• In the right hands, cosmetic injections are powerful mediums for gently enhancing a feature to give the face a more refreshed and balanced look. 
• In the wrong hands, they are a recipe for disaster, - Unsightly lips, distorted cheeks and facial proportions or long-term negative effects.

 “I don’t want to look young old” has become the most common phrase I hear in my clinic from young women (in particular) requesting cosmetic injections.  Too much dermal filler and the overuse of anti-wrinkle treatments can actually make younger clients look a lot older than their years, resulting in the dreaded ‘young/old’ phenomenon.  Also referred to as the ‘Rich face’ aesthetic of puffy, plumped and pumped up features. Everything is overdone, particularly the lips or cheeks. The ‘rich face’ had briefly become the new marker of success-enviable wealth and status. Previously clients didn’t want anyone to know they had had treatments, this group, however, wore their cosmetic injections like a badge of honor.

Sadly, nothing looks like it belongs with anything else, feature-wise. And ‘Too much of a good thing’ becomes a bad-looking thing instead of what it was originally intended to accomplish. Too often, people get caught up with the excitement of having work done that the cosmetic injection treatments can prematurely age them and create an older or more harsh appearance.

There has been a lot of talk in the media about when to start your cosmetic journey. 

Everyone is individual and my advice is to come to have a consultation to talk about your concerns and what options are available. Sometimes prevention can be better than the cure, but only when the injector has your interests at heart, not their back pocket.

Why your Cosmetic Injector Matters Especially for individuals in their 20s, 30s and 40s – who are most at risk of the ‘overfilled’ or ‘over-relaxed’ syndrome.

Most people who get injections fail to consider this important dynamic: a positive cosmetic injection outcome relies on achieving harmony and balance.  Facial aesthetics are all about contours and curves, light and shadows and how everything fits with everything else. When features are out of proportion or if one feature competes with another it can look entirely out of place and detract from the overall beauty of the face.

Warning: Too much dermal filler will age you!

Dermal Filler can ‘visibly’ age a person just as much as they can ‘visibly reduce’ the appearance of one’s biological age.  

If you walk around any local thoroughfare or outdoor cafe, where individuals in their 20s and 30s are milling around, you can’t help but notice how many faces appear ‘overfilled’, out of balance, and older than their biological age. 

It’s sadly the result of ‘too much of a good thing’ and inappropriately applied dermal filler or anti-wrinkle injections. This overuse of injectable treatments has led to the creation of a new syndrome – the dreaded “Young Old” -- women and men in their 20’s looking closer to mid-30's, and over 30’s looking older than the almost 40 sets. In most of these cases, Cosmetic injectable treatments are performed using a ‘cookie-cutter’ methodology and approach. They are not overly well planned, nor performed by someone highly skilled. If the injector isn’t an expert cosmetic injector, you may end up looking older, not younger, than you hoped. Or less attractive, instead of more attractive, simply due to the imbalance.

Imbalance vs Balance: It’s all about facial harmony, proportions and contours!

• Cosmetic injections can create imbalance as much as they can create a better balance. 
• It all depends on how the injection treatments are being done, and if the injector knows when to say ‘enough is enough…any more and it’ll have a reverse effect’.
• If there is too much dermal filler or too many places where the muscle relaxing injections are being applied, the net result --- short term and long term --- is a face that looks aged rather than enhanced.
  

Artistic Injections and The Beauty of Balance

It pays to use a cosmetic injector who has an artistic eye and thinks in terms of the ‘whole face’ when preparing your injections; not just a few features you want to be enhanced. Or the few wrinkles you want relaxed. A great cosmetic injector knows it’s important to consider the anatomy and genetics of a person; and how what they do as an Injector, will impact the overall look – in the short term and over time.
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“Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but balance is in the hand of your injector.” (says me) “I’m seeing a lot of young women and men who are unhappy with how their faces have changed so dramatically due to overuse of dermal fillers and anti-wrinkle treatments. The balance has been lost, and they realize it makes them look very different from what they hoping to achieve. ‍

The terms ‘young old’ and ‘rich face’ are now circulating in the cosmetic injection sector. 

We all want to look and feel our best. Achieving a refreshed and natural appearance can seem daunting at times, especially with the trend of the rich face phenomenon.  The mindset that the more dermal filler you have and the more done you look, the richer you obviously are. In actual fact, it’s like carrying a fake Louis Vuitton handbag, obvious for all the wrong reasons.  Younger clients are looking a lot older than they are because they have had too much work done and it often takes away from their true beauty. More mature clients can look puffy and distorted.

Fortunately, this trend is waning.  Most clients just want to feel more refreshed but are unsure of where to go or what is the best way to achieve their desired results. My advice is to do your research and find someone who takes the time to understand your specific needs and concerns. To achieve a healthy, natural and refreshed appearance is a very individual journey. Personally, I have found that the best outcomes have come from a combination of treatments. Cosmetic injections are amazing treatments to soften lines, refresh your appearance and enhance your features, but should be combined with skin treatments to achieve truly beautiful results. 

So if you are wanting to avoid looking older than you are? Or being the brunt of sideways looks and whispers behind your back?  Then you want to choose an artisan injector, someone who is very experienced in getting natural results that enhance the overall appearance.  There is a real artistic skill to achieving facial harmony and balance while not making the person look overly fake, or older than they are in the process.

Not an injector who seems happy to apply as much filler as you’re thinking you need - or can afford. You need an injector who will say NO to you, with your best interest at heart. Not someone who will leave you with lips the size of a small apple or looking so ‘overdone’ that everyone knows you’ve spent a fortune on your fillers. This, my friends, is what’s known as ‘rich face’ - fillers gone too far.

What you want is a cosmetic injector that can create the perfect balance and harmony of your facial features.  And that’s what our Clinic here at Kay &Co Cosmetic Rejuvenation is known for.

So yes, used appropriately with a highly skilful hand, care and attention to detail these treatments are particularly effective in creating a healthy, youthful-looking appearance.

Dermal fillers and muscle relaxants medications can help rebalance out-of-proportion features, without resorting to more permanent measures such as plastic surgery, cheek implants, or chin implants. Lip injections can create fuller more beautiful lips. Strategically placed dermal fillers in the Jaw and chin regions can give a person a more defined jawline. And cheek fillers can create more prominent cheekbones and help bring the focus towards the eyes. But we’ve all seen what happens when a person takes cosmetic injections a bit too far, young individuals can look older, not younger, and worse, not better if their injections are ‘overdone’.

Recognizing the long term effects of overuse of these cosmetic injections and how it impacts their youthfulness, clients are now more commonly embracing the less is more approach. 

Addicted to Cosmetic Filler or Lip Injections

We all know that a little filler or muscle relaxer goes a long way… but why do so many people seem addicted to their filler injections?

What causes young individuals to over-enhance their faces to where they look completely out of balance rather than glammed up? What causes lip filler augmentation to be taken well beyond ‘a bit too far’?

The reason some individuals look ‘done’ and ‘overdone’ when it comes to muscle relaxants, cheek filler or lip filler injections is three-fold:

1. Perception: Many people think – ‘if a little bit is good then a lot must be so much better.’

Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case with medication as powerful as muscle-relaxant agents. If you use too much, the anti-wrinkle agent can have a reverse effect on you. 

1. Injecting Talent: it’s hard to create the perfect balance, but a good injector knows precisely where - and how much - to inject; including how the result will impact on the person’s overall appearance. Will it make them look better? Or will it distract from their natural beauty?
2. Features: what often happens is that a person has a feature they want enhanced – lips, for example, or a recessed chin – and they over-enhance that feature.  And don’t take into account their overall facial structure, If they want cheeks to stand out, they over-do it – the actual proportion for the greatest impact on appearance was probably 25% to 30% of what they end up having done. 
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Why do 20-year-olds get cosmetic injections?

Those of us in our 40s, 50s and beyond, are using injectables for rejuvenation. 

Younger men and women in their 20s-30s often use cosmetic injections for glamorization to enhance their features, or to fix perceived flaws. 

Creating luscious lips, defined cheeks and jawlines, do look amazing when done well - they can enhance a face and lead to a more glamourous or model type appearance.

But too often, young individuals are over enhancing their key features. This results in duck lips or sausage lips, and a puffy pillow face that looks like it’s been ‘stuffed’ with cotton or wool.

But isn’t that the choice of the client? 

Is the overdone look caused by an injector - or by the client’s request? 

• Either way, your injector should be the expert. 
• They should know what is in your best interest and have your best interest at heart - not their back pocket - when making injecting decisions or giving quotes. 
  

“If unchecked, over-enhancement with injectables can start to impact their youthfulness. So while people in their 40s are looking younger, some people in their 20s & 30s - who haven’t sought highly-skilled advice on cosmetic injection treatments - are starting to look older than they are.”

“So now I see two types of clients,”

“It’s now not uncommon for some NEW clients who are 30 years old to look almost 40 - while my existing 40+ clients are looking closer to 30, because we use a very natural-looking approach.”

Do you need to create better harmony on your face, and would you love to reduce the signs of ageing? Contact us here