Tik Tok – the app riddled with overzealous influencers sharing the latest fashion trends, dances, commentary, and the hottest new surgeries?

The app is no stranger to its colorful beauty trends, encouraging viewers to seek glowing skin, shiny hair, and fabulous clothes at the cost of their entire life fortunes. Seriously, these trends cost hundreds of dollars, and they don’t even stay trendy for a long period of time. Today, I’m going to discuss the long term effects of following “beauty” trends, and why doing so is a complete waste of money, time, and blow at one’s self esteem.

I want to put an emphasis on the word trend here. Getting cosmetic surgery is a personal choice and one I completely support. The issue, however, lies in the desire to look trendy on the internet, rather than wanting to look the way you want to.  

I’m sure as humans, we can all come to a mutual agreement that spending thousands of dollars on something that may not even be worth it two months later, is a complete waste of funds. Well, this sort of thing happens all the time on the internet, especially on TikTok. People often spend tons of money just to obtain a new, trendy, look. One recent example of this is the rising buccal fat removal trend. Buccal fat resides in a person’s face, around the cheek. Recently, there has been a high demand for surgical removal of the fat. The surgery itself can cost anywhere from $5,000 – $20,000 depending on the facility and country in which it is being done.

There’s no issue with Cosmetic surgery, but it’s something that shouldn’t be influenced by others’ opinions. People are becoming more influenced by content they see on the internet concerning beauty standards and what features are seen as “desirable”. Additionally, some of these procedures can be extremely dangerous. Dr. Gary Linkov, a surgeon who used to perform buccal fat removal, has since stopped due to the dangers of the procedure. Many nerves, blood vessels, and important structures lie in that part of the face, making the removal of the fat incredibly risky. On top of that, undergoing such a risky operation to follow a trend is completely unnecessary, and could be something a person will regret in a month when the trend ends. 

They’re called trends for a reason. They don’t last forever, they hardly last a month. When one beauty trend ends, the internet moves on to the next one – and then what? What about all the people who spent thousands to modify their face only to be told they no longer meet the beauty standards? Being told such a thing makes a huge dent in one’s self esteem and perception of self worth – something nobody should have to experience.

At the end of the day, people are going to continue to spend their money on face and body trends because the internet can’t be altered or changed. It’s important to talk about these harmful trends because the internet influences us on a daily basis. We see people going to drastic measures to get views, likes, and comments, going as far as to change their appearance for some momentary clout. Ultimately, the attempt to stay within the parameters of modern beauty standards by resorting to surgery isn’t something people should have to do in order to feel pretty. People should be comfortable with the way they look regardless of social input and intrusion.