Cancelling Age: Embracing an Ageless Attitude

In this episode, Dr. Teri Fisher dives into the trend of “cancelling age” within aesthetic medicine as identified in the Galderma NEXT report. The focus is on shifting away from age preconceptions and stigmas, towards a positive, empowering, ageless attitude to healthy living. The trend emphasizes feeling healthy over looking younger, with a growing interest in bio-stimulating procedures and subtle aesthetic treatments.

Three key ideas illustrating “cancelling age” are discussed. Firstly, the concept of “50+ preservation” where individuals seek healthier looks through subtle treatments. Secondly, the trend of focusing on areas beyond the face for rejuvenation, such as hands, knees, and underarms. Lastly, the holistic approach involves treating the entire face and skin, coupled with a focus on nutrition and mental health for longer-lasting results.

As society ages, patients are seeking treatments that make them feel their best, at any age or stage in life. The goal is not to look like a younger version, but rather to look and feel fantastic at their current age, emphasizing confidence, contentment, attractiveness, and above all, health. Dr. Teri Fisher invites listeners to explore more insights into aesthetic treatments in his mini-series and encourages reaching out for further discussion or appointments.

Key Insights

• Cancelling age is a trend in aesthetic medicine focusing on an ageless attitude towards healthy living.
• 72% of women globally prioritize looking healthy over looking younger.
• Advancements in healthcare technology like stem cell technologies and biotechnology are driving the trend of cancelling age.
• Key terms related to age now include preservation, pro-aging, age management, and agelessness.
• Examples of “cancelling age” trends include “50+ preservation”, “beyond the face” treatments, and a “holistic approach”.
• Patients seek treatments to feel good about their age at any stage of life, not necessarily trying to look younger.
• The focus is on looking like a fantastic version of oneself at any age, rather than trying to appear younger.
• Cancelling age is about feeling healthy, confident, and attractive, regardless of the chronological age.

Episode Transcript

Dr. Teri Fisher: Hey there and welcome to this episode of the podcast. Today, we are continuing our journey into the trends of aesthetic medicine, and we are going to be focusing on something known as “cancelling age”. This is one of the trends that has been identified in the Galderma NEXT report. And over the last couple of weeks, I have been speaking about the various other trends that they have identified as well.

If you haven’t had a chance to listen to those episodes, then feel free, I invite you to do so. In episode 67, we looked at an overview of the macro movements that are driving our industry. In episode 68, we looked at the first major trend, “proactive beauty”, which is essentially a guide to aging gracefully. In episode 69, we looked at “mindful aesthetics”, which is all about the future of natural, eco-friendly, aesthetics. In episode 70, we talked about “fast aesthetics”, the rapid rise and fall of aesthetic trends. In 71, we talked about “beauty fandom”, the fusion of fantasy, aesthetics, and ethics. And in episode 72, we talked about ” expressionality”, embracing self-expression in aesthetic medicine.

And again, today, the focus is on the next big trend, which is all about “cancelling age.” With that being said, I’d like to get into this. I’d like to define it for you, exactly what is this trend of cancelling age? And then I’ll give you a couple of specific examples of this as well.

Cancelling age really refers to the fact that people more and more are saying that they don’t belong to any defined age group. Age preconceptions and stigmas are no longer valid. It’s all about having a positive, empowering, ageless attitude to healthy living. And this idea of cancelling age really minimizes the importance of what the number is, and focuses more on how you feel. What is that attitude that you express that you portray to the outside world that, in fact, maybe ageless?

Nearly 72% of women globally said that they want to focus on looking healthy rather than looking younger. And I think that’s really, really interesting, because that goes along with a lot of my own personal beliefs on why we do aesthetics. It’s all about confidence. It’s all about feeling good about yourself. And that involves feeling healthy and not so much about the age. You can look like a wonderful 40 year old. You can look like a wonderful 50 year old. You can look like a wonderful 60 year old, but those don’t necessarily look the same. And the question is, does that number matter?

What’s driving this trend? Technology, and technology specifically about health care and medicine, whether it’s stem cell technologies, wearable diagnostic technology, biotechnology, all of these things are gaining momentum and there are billions of dollars being invested into these various aspects of healthcare.

As a result, people are living longer, healthier lives, and people want to feel good about their age, wherever they are in that journey. This notion of age appropriateness is also becoming a way of the past. Language is shifting more towards preservation and pro aging and age management and even agelessness. These are all the key terms that we are seeing.

So with that being said, I’d like to share with you three different ideas that have been identified in this report that illustrate this idea of cancelling age. The first one is all about the new “50+ preservation”. We’re entering into an era where people no longer want to have this frozen face look. That’s less desirable than the subtler alternatives, the subtler aesthetic treatments that can be done in an office. When we consider there’s a lot more interest in bio-stimulating procedures, that is a real thing. And we are seeing people want to create that healthier look regardless of their age.

The second example is something that has been referred to as “beyond the face”. Traditionally aesthetics has often been thought of focusing on the face and yes, that’s still is the case. However, there is growing interest in preserving and treating other areas that may reveal the age. It could be smoothing the skin on the back of the hands. It could be smoothing skin on the knees or tightening the underarms. They’re even more niche areas that are gaining attention. The hashtag female rejuvenation has 6.7 million views already on Tik TOK. Similarly males are looking at male rejuvenation, and there are different ways that all of these aspects, all of these things that make up what a healthy person is, is contributing to the direction of aesthetic treatments.

The third way that we are seeing this is with regards to the example known as “holistic approach”. One of the trends that we’re noticing is that people are desiring the ability to treat, not just spots on their face, but rather the entire face, the entirety of the skin. We are seeing that people are seeking out treatments and procedures for longer lasting results and for a more holistic approach, so that there is more focus, not only on the treatment itself, but also on nutrition, on mental health and ,other aspects that make us live our lives to the fullest extent possible.

So what’s next with cancelling age? As society is getting older, patients are continuing to look for treatments and technologies that they are comfortable with regardless of their age. As I said at the beginning, the number is not so much what is important. It’s more about how they feel at any particular time in their life and what is important to them at those particular times. For example, during menopause, there are certain changes that happen, and at that time in a woman’s life, she may choose to undergo treatments that help to make her feel better about where she is at that stage.

Most patients just want to look nice. They want to look content. They want to look attractive. They want to look healthy. And that doesn’t mean that they’re trying to look like a 25 year old when they’re 50. It means that they want to look like a fantastic 50 year old, and I think that’s the bottom line here. That is the ultimate message. Wherever you are on your life’s journey, you have the ability, you have the right, you can have that desire, to look the best that you possibly can at whatever age you are, and the number itself doesn’t matter.

I hope that’s interesting to you. I hope that has given you a little bit of insight into the trends that we are seeing going forward. Again, look back at this little mini series that I’ve done from episode 67 all the way up until today, and that you’ll have a good insight into where we are going with aesthetic treatments as we continue in the months and years ahead.

If you want to reach out to me and discuss any of this with me, feel free to do so. As always, I’d love to hear from the listeners. You can reach out to me on Instagram at Dr. Teri Fisher, D R T E R I F I S H E R, or at my website, DrTeriFisher.Com or of course, feel free to book an appointment with me at Anti-Aging in Vancouver.

Talk to you again next week, when we will be getting into some more interviews and I’m excited to share those with you. Stay tuned and be well.