A DECADE AGO, the idea of people in their early twenties strolling around with Botox and various types of dermal fillers probably seemed completely absurd. 

In the early 00s, treatments like botox and fillers were reserved solely for the rich, ageing population of Hollywood. Then, with the advent of social media, something very strange happened. Between 2011 and 2015, the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery noted that there had been a 41% increase in the number of 19 to 34-year-olds opting for cosmetic treatments like fillers and Botox. It’s not just America where the numbers are surging, either. 

In fact, a study conducted by the Independent in 2017 revealed that since 2004, Ireland has consistently remained in the top five countries making enquiries about Botox and lip-fillers online. If this has been going on since 2004, we can hardly blame Kylie Jenner, as she was about seven years old at this stage.

With that said, there’s little doubt that social media drives people to get (or at least consider getting) lip fillers. Over the summer, spokespeople for the Therapie clinic were suggesting that the airing of Love Island resulted in a massive spike of enquiries regarding lip fillers. It’s not just the exposure to individuals who have had these treatments on Instagram that makes people want to get them – it’s how easily accessible they are nowadays, whether through a well-known company, or an individual advertising the procedure on social media. 

Fifteen years ago, it would have been fairly rare to encounter an Irish person who had gotten lip fillers. Now, with the treatment costing €195, or often less, it’s probably unlikely that you don’t know anybody who has opted for fillers or Botox over the last few years. 

The more accessible that lip fillers and Botox have gotten for us, the less celebrities seem to want them. 

In 2017, W Magazine compiled a list of celebrities who decided to ditch the injections. It included names like Cameron Diaz, Nicole Kidman, Pamela Anderson and Jessica Simpson. They gave varying reasons – some didn’t like how ‘fake’ it made them look, while others were uncomfortable with no longer looking like themselves. Cameron Diaz said, “I’d rather see my face ageing than a face that doesn’t belong to me at all.” However, she doesn’t look down on those who feel better about themselves after having some kind of treatment:

If they do feel better about themselves, then those procedures have worked. I have no problem with that. And in a lot of instances, it does make you look like you’ve taken a nap… or that you might be a little younger than you looked maybe the day before. 

Years ago, TV was telling us that Botox, facelifts, fillers, etc. would make us all look ten years younger. Here’s Cameron Diaz telling us that it’s more likely we’ll look a few days or a few hours younger. 

Although Courteney Cox opened up about her decision to quit fillers two years ago, she spoke about it once again over the weekend, as she’s taking part in a new L’Oreal campaign in which she encourages other women to embrace the natural ageing process. 

Now I just embrace who I am and getting older with what God gave me, not what I was trying to change. 

When she told People Magazine that she was going to ditch the fillers two years ago, she said that she had a “hard time accepting getting older”.

I didn’t realize it until one day I kind of stepped back and went, “Oh, ****. I don’t look like myself.” 

A little over a month ago, Bella and Gigi’s mother Yolanda Hadid posted a selfie in her lingerie, to inform fans that she doesn’t plan on fighting nature any longer. 

The 55-year-old wrote: 

Finally back to the original 1964. Living in a body free of breast implants, fillers, botox, extensions and all the bullshit I thought I needed in order to keep up with what society conditioned me to believe was what a sexy woman should look like until the toxicity of it all almost killed me… Your health is your wealth, so please make educated decisions, research the partial information you’re given by our broken system before putting anything foreign in your body. 

It’s clear that for celebrities in their forties, fifties and upward are uncomfortable with the effect that these cosmetic procedures are having on how they view themselves.

It’s not entirely clear whether this is the same reason that younger influencers and celebrities like Kylie Jenner are turning their backs on fillers and Botox, but we’re certainly hearing more and more about the process to remove lip fillers than ever before, so there are definitely a significant number of people out there who are fed up with their enlarged lips.

Kylie never made an official announcement about her decision to go back to her natural lips, in the way that many older celebrities did. Instead, she told a fan in her Instagram comments that she “got rid of all [her] filler”, after the fan pointed out that she was looking more like her younger self.

One of those “sources” close to Kylie told Entertainment Tonight that Kylie had made the decision after spending much of her pregnancy makeup free and without fillers which resulted in “Kylie [falling] in love with the natural look”, wanting more of it and deciding to “stop putting filler in her lips”. 

There are two ways to get rid of lip fillers – you can get an injection that will dissolve lip fillers, or you can simple just stop getting your lips topped up. It’s likely that Kylie Jenner went with the second option, according to a UK aesthetic doctor who spoke to Harpers Bazaar, who recommended doing this rather than actively dissolving lip fillers as there can be negative side effects to dissolving lip fillers with injections in some cases. 

DailyEdge is on Instagram!