The Fine Line Between Rejuvenation & Alteration

When it comes to facial aesthetic treatments, when is it too much? When does it become a situation where a patient has been ‘over-treated’, creating an altered and plastic-looking facial appearance?

- Dr Alistair Mcalpine

The field of aesthetic medicine has gained a bad reputation over the last few years, largely due to the over-treatment or incorrect treatment of patients. This, in turn, has been publicised extensively in the media and especially on social media, thereby giving people the impression that aesthetic medicine treatments create a ‘fake’ or ‘plastic’ appearance.

Unfortunately, patients are indeed being over-treated on a daily basis, which has led to undesired facial alteration – rather than facial rejuvenation. This is a statement a lot of my colleagues may not appreciate, but it is the truth. The reason for this over-treatment may be for financial gain of the practitioner, or in an attempt to meet a patient’s unrealistic expectations, or a combination of both.

Rejuvenation vs Alteration

Now, before I continue with this article, it would be a good idea to differentiate between alteration and rejuvenation. According to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), alteration can be defined as: “the action or process of altering or being altered”. In contrast, the definition of rejuvenation in the OED can be defined as: “the action or process of making someone or something look or feel better, younger, or more vital”.