Botox 'may stunt emotional growth' in young people

[cronus]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-29174929

Botox 'may stunt emotional growth' in young people

Giving young people Botox treatment may restrict their emotional growth, experts warn.

Writing in the Journal of Aesthetic Nursing, clinicians say there is a growing trend for under-25s to seek the wrinkle-smoothing injections.

But the research suggests "frozen faces" could stop young people from learning how to express emotions fully.

A leading body of UK plastic surgeons says injecting teenagers for cosmetic reasons is "morally wrong".

Botox and other versions of the toxin work by temporarily paralysing muscles in the upper face to reduce wrinkling when people frown.

Nurse practitioner Helen Collier, who carried out the research, says reality TV shows and celebrity culture are driving young people to idealise the "inexpressive frozen face."

But she points to a well-known psychological theory, the facial feedback hypothesis, that suggests adolescents learn how best to relate to people by mimicking their facial expressions.

She says: "As a human being our ability to demonstrate a wide range of emotions is very dependent on facial expressions.

"Emotions such as empathy and sympathy help us to survive and grow into confident and communicative adults."

But she warns that a "growing generation of blank-faced" young people could be harming their ability to correctly convey their feelings.

(continued, the gormless generation...)

[Xamonas Chegwé]

If you're vapid enough to want to fill your face with one of the most toxic substances on Earth in the fleeting pursuit of "beauty", I'd say your emotional growth is pretty much fucked already.

[klr]

If you're vapid enough to want to fill your face with one of the most toxic substances on Earth in the fleeting pursuit of "beauty", I'd say your emotional growth is pretty much fucked already.

That of your parents might also be called into question.

[cronus]

Plastic people for a plastic utopia. It's all a global takeover plot by Lego I tell you.