Are we all going to end up with the same face?

Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. “The result is a culture of homogeneous beauty, in which women covet each other’s features and strive for ideals that can only be achieved through augmentation – normalising injectable procedures, cosmetic surgery, photo editing and filter use in order to achieve the look.” Those deeply embedded within this specific zone of the pop culture zeitgeist will be familiar with this idea already thanks to the term “Instagram Face”. Perhaps what’s more concerning, though, is not what’s being done, but what’s inspiring the work that’s being done.“People used to come to see me asking to look like a particular celebrity,” says Dr Banwell, “but many patients come to me with a phone and show me pictures saying, ‘That’s how I get the most likes and followers – could we do that in reality. They will increase the size of a patient’s eyes, change the shape of the face entirely, not to mention wipe out imperfections where lines can’t be removed – the face just wouldn’t be able to show any emotion.” open image in gallery Kylie Jenner, whose face author Ellen Atlanta describes as having ‘formed the foundation of a new beauty industrial complex’ Today’s surgery requests go far beyond the aforementioned mainstream treatments; there are procedures taking place most people wouldn’t even deem possible, let alone necessary or desirable. It goes beyond aesthetics; it’s a political act that hinders our self-definition and ultimately strips us of agency.” open image in gallery ‘By assimilating into an assembly line of identical faces, we lose a sense of our individuality and of our humanity’ The rise in non-invasive treatments offering similar results to surgical ones – usually involving lasers, radiofrequency and microneedling – has also made achieving a tweaked “look” far easier, giving people the opportunity to achieve the same aesthetics without going under the knife.