FILLERS and the millennial patient

Because the number of younger patients requesting fillers is increasing every year, aesthetic practitioners need to brush up on their knowledge of how best to treat the booming millennial market.

- DR SLY NEDIC

According to a 2018 survey of 110 facilities that offer non-invasive cosmetic procedures in the USA, 72% of facial plastic surgeons reported an increase in cosmetic interventions using fillers in patients younger than 30. And we see the same trend in South Africa.

Why do we see this increase?

Compared to the more mature individuals that perceive cosmetic procedures as a sign of vanity, perhaps even shameful (or something to be strictly secretive about), younger people are just the opposite.

First, millennials (aged 25 to 38) have been labelled as the ‘wellness generation’. This age group highly values mental and physical health, eating more healthily, exercising regularly and smoking less, while being unafraid to try just about any scientifically proven way to improve personal wellness. And an increasing number of younger people are seeing cosmetic procedures using fillers as part of a holistic approach to their well-being – with ‘looking good, feeling good’ being their mantra.

Millennials are also aware of signs of premature skin ageing, which is happening more quickly than before due to a combination of environmental toxicity, and the food industry using more GMOs, pesticides and growing vegetables in depleted soil. Young adults understand that maintaining a good look is easier and less expensive than big procedures later on (and, perhaps are even a necessity in the modern day), so they’re unafraid to be proactive with cosmetic procedures.

The requests are specific

While the older generation doesn’t often understand the difference between fillers and immunomodulators (e.g. botulinum toxin), younger patients come to our practices pretty clued up.