One of the most common requests I get in my dental aesthetics practice from both men and women is along the lines of: “I want better but natural; I don’t want to look artificial or done.” I then try and fulfil this expectation to the best of my ability by providing a filling or crown that matches the adjacent tooth colour and shape, or a denture that complements the facial structure, or an anti-wrinkle injection that softens or removes harsh lines, or a perhaps a filler which lifts saggy skin and restores facial volume (please note that although the names of the more commonly used anti-wrinkle and filler treatments are very well known, it is both illegal and unethical to name prescription medicines in advertisements and promotional material). Hopefully, at the end of the treatment, the patient looks in the mirror and says or thinks to themselves: “That looks better and it looks natural.”
But what exactly constitutes ‘natural’? The two
photographs alongside are sometimes mistaken as the same person 30years apart.
In fact, they show a set of identical twins who worked in completely different
environments throughout their lifetime. Twin A spent her working life indoors
out of the sun. Twin B spent her working life outside in the garden in direct
sunlight. Now while these images show
the impact that ultra violet radiation has on the skins aging process, my
question would be which one is natural? Of course they are both natural but one
of them is completely unnecessarily older looking. The benefits of sun
protection are thankfully quite well known now and if you aren’t using a facial
cream which includes a sun protection factor of at least 40 all year round, I
would strongly encourage you to. These photographs however could quite easily
indicate the benefits of the use of anti – wrinkle treatments and fillers.
Although it is not the case, it wouldn’t be at all out of place to suggest that
Twin A has had regular anti – wrinkle and perhaps filler treatment over a
period of years while Twin B preferred to be “natural”.
What exactly constitutes natural? Teeth with holes in
and indeed teeth that have fallen out are certainly more “natural” than
fillings, dentures or implants – but we live in an age where these artificial
replacements are readily available and we are simply faced with a choice: “Do I
want to stay ‘natural’ or do I want to invest in something that makes me look
better but still ‘natural’?
The truth is that for thousands of years both men and
women have used the very latest cosmetic products and procedures to counter the
effects of aging... and this is not always to try and look younger but rather
to try and not look older. So people have applied whatever has been available
and affordable: moisturizers, face masks, hair dyes, make-up, skin lighteners,
false tan, lipstick, sun protection, anti-wrinkle injections, fillers, peels
etc in order to look natural but better. Depending on the fashion, some people
have taken sharp razors or tweezers to their faces, legs or armpits to remove
natural hair; for the last 30 years or so some folk have chosen to have very
short little needles almost painlessly inserted into wrinkled or gravity
affected areas of the face in order to introduce products with clinically
proven safety records (and many thousands of patient satisfaction reports) that
relax tense muscles and rejuvenate the face.
In the area of anti-wrinkle injections and fillers
some say: “Natural is better,” but I hope I have shown that very few people,
especially here in Norwich, embrace natural when it comes to our faces, we
simply make a series of personal decisions about how much we are prepared to
embrace from the cosmetic market.
At CP Aesthetics, experience has shown that many folk look tired even after a wonderful sleep or sad when actually happy or angry when not ... this is unnecessary. Let us help you look the way you feel.
