To Botox or Not to Botox?

Should I Get Botox?

That is the question.

This month, a reader sent in this request.

Question:  How do you approach all of these cosmetic techniques – Botox, Ultherapy, Sculptra, – even plastic surgery?  Are they psychologically unhealthy to do?  Do they mean that I am not accepting my aging?  Or do they mean that I am doing what is within my power to help myself feel better about it?  I am almost scared to say anything because people have such strong opinions about it.  Thanks.

I was getting my nails done (a clue perhaps to my bent on this issue…) when I saw Tyne Daly of Cagney & Lacey fame on the TV screen above me.  Being interviewed by Katie Couric.  The sound was turned way down so I couldn’t exactly hear what they were saying.  Her movements were incredibly natural.  Wide smile. A baudy laugh erupted every now and then.  Silver hair.  Wrinkles front and center.  Legs that looked liked she could be in the Rockettes.

Tyne Daly and her brother, Tim Daly
Photo: Wikipedia – David Shankbone, photographer

She’s 68.

Publicity about her states she has had no “work” done.

Compare her to Jane Fonda.  A little older – around 75 I think.  Open about having cosmetic surgery.  Looks tighter than Tyne. Hair is colored.  Also very attractive.

Jane Fonda. Photo: Wikipedia, Georges Baiard

Who is healthier?  Who is happier?

You would have to ask them.  What I do know is that the way you look is not going to make you happy.  Extremely beautiful people can be miserable.

I made my choice.  I started getting Sculptra about 5 years ago.  I don’t have total family support on the matter.  My son thinks it’s ridiculous.

I’m here to tell you those needles sting like the devil.

I don’t get Botox because I want my face to move.  Other folks swear by the stuff.

I certainly understand the reasoning behind aging naturally.  In fact, there really is no “reasoning”.  Our parts gravitating southward.  Hallmarks of having walked the earth for a while.

I think it has its own beauty and grace, quite apart from the beauty of youth.

I pluck the stiff gray hair that now pokes out of my chin every six weeks or so.  I work out.  I lather my skin with heavier forms of body lotion.  Thank goodness for Ibuprofen for joint pain.  I had rotator cuff surgery when my shoulder went out.

My professional opinion?  Doing something to alter the way you look is not inherently psychologically unhealthy, unless there is a Body Dysmorphic Disorder (or other psychological disturbance) underneath it.  That is when there is an obsession over a perceived defect in appearance, causing intense depression and anxiety.

But there is a more important point. At least to me.

What I really hope is that we women, or whatever men might jump into the fray, aren’t judgmental with each other.  In the past, for example, the media has fanned the flame of “working” moms versus “stay-at-home”mom into such a frenzy that we have eyed one another distrustfully.  Like there was a right choice or a wrong choice.

Let’s not let that happen here.

If the only thing that has touched your face in the last 20 years is Pond’s cold cream,(affiliate link) I still hope that you can accept Sculptra-sculpted me.

I will return the favor.

Feeling good about yourself.  Enjoying the time we are lucky enough to have.  Supporting each other.

That’s what is healthy.

Would love your comments below!  As always thanks for reading!  If you have a question or a private comment, send them to me at askdrmargaret@drmargaretrutherford.com.  I will answer!