Debunking Aesthetic Medicine Myths

In this week’s episode of the “Anti-Aging Insights” podcast, Dr. Teri Fisher delves into the realm of aesthetic medicine to debunk common myths that people often believe. The episode kicks off with a myth about Botox freezing the face permanently, debunked by Dr. Fisher’s explanation of the temporary nature of Botox and its effects on muscle movement.

Moving on, Dr. Fisher explores the misconception that aesthetic medicine is a new field, highlighting its ancient roots in practices such as chemical peels dating back to the ancient Egyptians. He further emphasizes that aesthetic medicine has been a longstanding presence in modern times, with treatments evolving over the past 20 years to incorporate new technologies.

The episode also addresses the myth that aesthetic medicine is exclusively for women, as Dr. Fisher notes the increasing trend of men seeking cosmetic treatments. He emphasizes the importance of understanding the differences in treating masculine versus feminine features for optimal results.

Lastly, Dr. Fisher tackles the belief that cosmetic procedures always result in unnatural looks, attributing this perception to exaggerated portrayals on social media. He stresses his philosophy of enhancing natural beauty through subtle and harmonious treatments, aiming for results that are noticeable yet indiscernible to onlookers.

Throughout the episode, Dr. Fisher invites listeners to share their own myths for future discussion and highlights his commitment to natural-looking results through examples on his Instagram. As the episode concludes, he encourages engagement through social media and his website for further discussions and consultations.

Listeners are also reminded to explore Dr. Fisher’s daily news update on aesthetic medicine, the “Aesthetic Medicine Minute,” available on various podcast platforms and smart speakers. The episode concludes with Dr. Fisher’s signature friendly sign-off, leaving listeners informed and eager for the next insightful installment.

Key Insights

• Dr. Fisher discusses common myths in aesthetic medicine and plans to do a series on myth-busting episodes
• Addressing the myth that Botox freezes the face permanently, Dr. Fisher explains how Botox works and that its effects are temporary
• Aesthetic medicine is not a new field – historical evidence shows interest in appearance dating back to ancient times
• Myth debunked: Aesthetic medicine is not just for women, as there is a growing trend of men seeking cosmetic treatments
• Cosmetic treatments can look natural depending on the practitioner and client’s preferences, aiming to enhance natural beauty subtly

Episode Transcript

Dr. Teri Fisher: Hey there and welcome to this week’s episode of the podcast. Today, we’re going to have a little bit of fun. I thought it would be a fun thing to do to talk about some of the common myths that are out there with regards to aesthetic medicine. And we would do a little bit of a myth busting episode, fiction versus Fisher, if you will.

And I thought it would be a fun thing to do. We’ll go through three of the key myths that I’ve come across when practicing aesthetic medicine, and this may even be the first of a series of episodes. We’ll see how it goes. I’d love to get your feedback with regards to that, and if you have any particular myths that you’ve heard, perhaps consider sharing those with me and then we can bust those together on future episodes.

Today, let’s start with a really fun type of myth. And what I mean by that is, when I decided to do this episode, I went online and I did a search for the most exaggerated myth that I could find about aesthetic medicine. And I came across this quote, which I thought was amusing, but there’s always a little bit of truth behind a myth because that’s what causes these myths. Anyway, here’s the quote, “Botox will freeze your face and you’ll never be able to show any expression again, doomed to wander the earth like a well-preserved zombie.” All right. There’s a lot to unpack in there, but that gives you an idea of some of the things that are going around online and out in the public about aesthetic medicine.

Although this isn’t technically one of the myths that I want to bust, I think I do have to address this. So let’s, right off the bat, talk about this. “Botox will freeze your face and you’ll never be able to show any expression again.” Here’s the way Botox works. For the record, it is a neurotoxin. It’s a neuromodulator and it interrupts the transmission of signals from nerves to muscles. What that means is it relaxes the muscles because the muscles don’t get that signal to contract. If you flood an area with Botox, with neurotoxin, yes, you can very well freeze that area because no muscle will work. However, going to a reputable practitioner who is looking at natural results, they’re not going to do that. They’re not going to flood an area with neurotoxin. And in fact, if you do it in a very subtle way, you can relax the lines over the muscles, but not actually cause a fully frozen face. Some people do want that, for the record. Some people want to be completely frozen, and we can do that with appropriate dosing, but to say that you’ll never be able to show any expression again is completely false. Neuromodulator, after three months, generally speaking, it wears off. And so your expression, your ability to move the muscles, goes back to exactly the way it was prior to the Botox treatment. In other words, Botox is not permanent. Botox is a temporary thing. And if you do enjoy getting Botox treatments, then you’ll know that you actually have to repeat them every three months or so, depending on your metabolism. So to tackle that last part of the quote, “doomed to wander the earth, like a well-preserved zombie.” It’s a great quote. But as you can see, it’s not, it’s not true. No zombies here, just a refreshed, more rested looking version of yourself.

Okay, so that was the bonus myth. Here are the three myths that I actually wanted to adjust today.

Number one. Aesthetic medicine is a new field. This is very, very false, because if you go back and look at ancient history, as far back as the ancient Egyptians, in fact, the royalty would create face masks of highly acidic substances. Where did they get that? It was crocodile dung and river mud. And essentially that functioned as the same principles as modern chemical peels. And so yes, people were interested in their appearance back at the time of the ancient Egyptians, if not earlier. We also know that members of the medieval aristocracy used poison from certain plants to dilate their pupils. That’s very interesting because Botox or neurotoxin is actually, in high doses, a poison. We obviously use it in a very, very controlled way that makes it safe. But it’s interesting that back then, people were using a poison to dilate their pupils, to have an aesthetic effect, and that parallels the use of neurotoxin today to have relaxed muscles. So very, very interesting. If we bring this myth of aesthetic medicine being a new field to more modern times, I can tell you that at least over the last 20 years or so there have been very well-recognized treatments for aesthetics when it comes to using neuromodulator, when it comes to using fillers, when it comes to anti-aging medicine. And in fact, my colleague at Anti-Aging Medical and Laser in Vancouver was one of the very first people in the city to be practicing anti-aging medicine, and that goes back well over 20 years. And so, whether you look at aesthetic medicine from a historical perspective, ancient times, or whether you look at it in modern times, it has been around for a substantial amount of time, and that brings us a lot of confidence in what we are doing. So, fiction versus Fisher? It is certainly fiction when you say that aesthetic medicine is a new field. It has been around for ages. We are always having new technology come forward, and that’s really where the exciting part of this is, is that more recently we have had a whole bunch of new technologies come into the field of aesthetic medicine.

All right. Myth number two. “Aesthetic medicine is just for women.” False again. In fact, we are seeing a shift in demographics such that males are representing a very fast growing demographic group among consumers of aesthetic medicine. Men are more and more feeling the need to invest in their appearance. And interestingly, there is less fear of judgment. More and more men are opting for neuromodulator treatments. They’re opting for dermal fillers. They’re opting for other non-invasive cosmetic treatments. And it’s fantastic. This does create a challenge for people that are doing these treatments, because a masculine face, if that’s what you’re going for, is different than a feminine face. And so understanding those differences are very key and a good practitioner will know those differences and know how to tailor treatments for a masculine face, for a feminine face, or for whatever it is that you are going for. But again, aesthetic medicine is not only female focused and more and more is becoming male focused. And I’m seeing that in my own practice as well.

And let’s talk about one more other myth today. And that is that “cosmetic treatments or procedures always look unnatural.” A lot of this myth, I believe, has to do with society’s obsession with social media now, because people tend to post things online when they have gone badly or when they have had these really dramatic treatments, where for example, lips are humongous and they just don’t look natural. And I will say that yes, certain treatments do look unnatural. But it really depends on who is doing the treatment and as a client, where you choose to have your treatments done. My philosophy, and you’ve probably heard me say this before if you’ve been listening to the podcast, is not to create unnatural results. It is to create natural results that enhance your natural beauty. The best way I can describe this is if you come in to get a treatment and then you leave and somebody who knows you well looks at you and says, “You look really good. Like, what have you done? Did you do something?” It’s that sense that you look really, really good, but they can’t quite put their finger on it in terms of what was done. That in my mind is the ideal situation. That’s the ideal result. And if you want to check out some of my before and after photos with my clients, you can always check that out on Instagram at Dr. Teri Fisher, D R T E R I F I S H E R, and you can see, and one thing that I’m very proud of is that my results are natural. They are dramatic in one sense is that they really make a difference in the person’s appearance, but they’re natural in the sense that if you look back and forth, it Can sometimes be difficult to put your finger on what exactly was done, but the overall harmony, the overall facial balancing, of what has been achieved is quite remarkable. And so I encourage you to check those out. Going back to the myth to say that “cosmetic treatments or procedures are always looking unnatural” is simply false. It depends where you’re going. It depends who’s doing it. It depends what you want, of course, because that is a very important factor as well. But ultimately if you want your treatments to look natural, it can look completely natural.

So there you go. A couple of myths that I wanted to talk about today. If you have other myths that you would like me to discuss on this podcast, let me know, because I’d be happy to do another episode if this is something that you find interesting. I think it’s always fun to talk about what’s out there, what people are saying versus the reality.

As always feel free to reach out. You can reach out again to me on Instagram at Dr. Teri Fisher, you can reach out to me through my website, DrTeriFisher.Com, and I’d be delighted to chat with you in the clinic, of course, as well.

Thank you for tuning in this week. I look forward to chatting with you again next week. And just a reminder, if you haven’t tuned into my daily, my daily news update about the aesthetic medicine world, then feel free to check that out. It’s called Aesthetic Medicine Minute, and you can search for that on your favorite podcast players, or even on your favorite smart speaker, Amazon Alexa, by saying ” Alexa, enable Aesthetic Medicine Minute flash briefing,” followed by “Alexa, play my flash briefings,” and then you can do that every single day.

Thanks again for tuning in this week. It’s been a pleasure chatting with you about fiction versus Fisher, myths versus facts, and I look forward to chatting with you again real soon.