People who seek out cosmetic procedures such as facelifts or anti-wrinkle injections may not be doing so simply out of vanity. Research has shown that there are real issues associated with the signs of ageing.
Nicole Kidman had made headlines when she claimed the use of anti-wrinkle injections had left her features ‘frozen’, and that she preferred to ‘have control over her facial expressions.’ However a study found that it’s the creases and furrows on someone’s face, as opposed to procedures such as dermal fillers and anti-wrinkle injections, that make it hard to judge someone’s true emotions.
The study, which was conducted by researchers at Penn State University, asked a group of participants to examine 64 faces and rate them based on the emotions they perceived in the images. According to the researchers, the study found that, on average, the pictures depicting older adults were rated as more angry or sad compared to the photos of younger people, despite the fact that every face photographed showed neutral emotions.
According to study researcher Carlos Garrido, wrinkles on the face can cause the mouth to drop and the forehead to crinkle, resulting in features some may perceive as sadness or anger. Whilst this may result in incorrect assumptions being made on a day-to-day basis, Garrido pointed to another scenario in which this could cause problems. In a medical setting, for example, Garrido believes doctors may perceive older patients to be in more pain than they really are, purely because of the extent of their wrinkles.
Whilst the study researchers are the first to point out that further research is still needed, they also claim the results of the study are not due to stereotypes people may have about the emotional well-being of older adults.
Indeed, this study builds on earlier research conducted at Berlin’s Humboldt University, where it was found younger people had a hard time judging the faces of older adults, often perceiving them to have more ‘mixed emotions’ than similar images of younger people.
Although it’s likely men and women are initially motivated to invest in anti-wrinkle injections for aesthetic reasons, this research highlights there are real issues attached to developing the early signs of ageing. And it seems Australians aren’t waiting for those first signs of ageing to engrain on their faces. In the last five years, Australians have more than doubled their spend on non-surgical cosmetic treatments such as anti-wrinkle injections and dermal fillers. The Cosmetic Physicians College of Australasia (CPCA), estimates that Australians’ spent more than $890 million in 2015, on minimally or non-invasive cosmetic procedures.
