Murals (2008) by PHANTAST - Graffiti - Cultural Music & Art Association inc. - 98 Milne St. Benleigh
Botox use "halts young people's emotional development".
UK clinicians say there is a rise in the number of people under 25 getting Botox in a bid to ward off aging and mimic "frozen-faced" celebrities - and they are warning that the trend could have lasting impacts on people's emotional and social development.
Nurse Helen Collier conducted research into the trend and said adolescents and people in their early 20s mimic facial expressions to continue learning how to relate to people and that if this ability is stopped, young people may lose an important step in emotional development. As a human being our ability to demonstrate a wide range of emotions is very dependent on facial expressions. Emotions such as empathy and sympathy help us to survive and grow into confident and communicative adults. If you wipe those expressions out, this might stunt their emotional and social development. A "growing generation of blank-faced" people could struggle to convey their feelings. Botox works by temporarily paralysing muscles to reduce wrinkles, and Collier is calling on plastic surgeons to work on boosting young people's self-confidence rather than automatically giving them injections to copy their celebrity idols.
Skye McDonald, a UNSW professor of neuropsychology said that mimicking expressions is an important part of emotional development that starts in infancy. If you can't mimic facial expressions there is very much a possibility that you are losing feedback in terms of recognising what someone else is expressing. If you aren't able to use your face fully, you are at a disadvantage in your ability to communicate with others. "Frozen-faced" women may not be able to teach their babies how to communicate effectively. (Health.ninemsn.com.au.Author Kimberly Gillan. Approving editor Wade O'Leary, 19/09/2014).