Young people in Spain are increasingly turning to cosmetic procedures

Young people are increasingly turning to aesthetic treatments and surgery in Spain. Both doctors and the medical sector reports back up this phenomenon. According to the Spanish society of aesthetic medicine (Seme), in 2023, the 16-25 age group accounted for 20% of patients undergoing aesthetic medical treatments throughout Spain. At the same time, the Spanish society of aesthetic and reconstructive plastic surgery (Secpre) states that young adults in the 18-29 age group account for 29.5% of the surgeries carried out in 2022.

Expert in the field Dr Andrés Bernete confirms the statistics. "Especially in the last two years, we have seen that the growth of young people has been exponential in aesthetic medicine clinics. In mine in particular, in Torremolinos, I see two to three young people between the ages of 18 and 22 every day," he says.

It should be noted that Dr Bernete is referring to medical treatments, not surgery, although the trend in the latter is also on the rise. Younger people "turn to aesthetic medicine mostly because they have seen videos on social media such as Instagram or TikTok and they want to have viral treatments, which improve the skin with hyaluronic acid or neuromodulators".

Bernete is clear: these treatments should not be prompted by a video and celebrity comparisons, but authorised by a medical professional who conducts an assessment and then presents the best option. He insists that it is often necessary to say 'no' to clients who don't need the treatment they are asking for. Previously, the most common patient was a woman over the age of 40. However, visits by young people have increased "exponentially" and continue to do so. "According to the Seme, 50% of Spaniards have already undergone some aesthetic treatment," Dr Bernete states.

What are the most common and trendy treatments these days? Above all, young women between the ages of 23 and 30 (or even much younger) want to have their lips filled with hyaluronic acid to achieve a "very voluminous lip". Males, on the other hand, ask for "facial or jaw masculinisation treatment with hyaluronic acid to mark the jaw and chin" and make these parts of their faces "more aggressive and thicker". Many young women also opt for glute augmentation with fillers. Dr Bernete has created a pioneering technique in this field.

The star treatment in all clinics, however, is botox, which is injected between the eyebrows and around the eyes. It is the most popular technique for preventing wrinkles. Here, too, the average age has dropped: from 35 to "25 or 27". Treatments range from 300 euros for a vial of hyaluronic acid. A breast augmentation costs more than 4,500 euros and liposuction can exceed 6,000 euros.

Plastic surgeon Ramón López Saucedo works at Hospital Quironsalud Málaga. He warns that many boys and girls want to undergo cosmetic surgeries. He often tells them that they are too young to subject themselves to such treatments, given that they have not yet matured enough in body and mind. Dr López Saucedo highlights the effect that social media, fillers, aesthetic competition and comparison to celebrities has on young people - a race "to be the best, the most beautiful, the strongest". "We see everything, from breast augmentation in young girls to nose jobs, hyaluronic acid fillers and treatments such as micropigmentation," he says. "More and more young people are trying to look older at much younger ages because of social media, mobile phones and selfies." According to him, the star treatments are breast augmentation, rhinoplasty (surgeries to modify the size of the nose) and liposuction.

"You have to look for physical, facial and psychological maturity. There are kids who want to have surgery because they want to look like a certain person, a certain celebrity, a certain friend and that's not what it's all about. Medicine is a biopsychosocial balance," Dr López Saucedo says. "Obviously, I work more with the ages of 23 to 30, but it is true that we see more and more patients at much younger ages, we are talking about 15 and 16," he adds, stressing that the doctor's job is to assess whether the client is mature enough to have the treatment.

Dr López Saucedo says that cosmetic surgery has skyrocketed since the pandemic. He estimates that patients in the 23 to 30 age bracket have grown by 30% in five years in his clinic. "Cosmetic surgery is not a product that can be used and thrown away. Your body is going to change and you have to assess whether this change is really going to benefit you," he says, alluding also to getting tattoos, as he has many clients who go to his practice to remove theirs.

Eva García (not her real name) is 28 years old and has undergone a nose operation for a deviated septum, but she also wants to correct two other aspects of her appearance. She paid 6,000 euros for an ultrasonic rhinoplasty (although a normal one can cost 4,500). "The recovery is less invasive, safer," she says, assuring that the doctor confirmed that she had a deviated septum and that it was not just a whim in her case. However, Eva says that several of her friends around the age of 24 are already having hyaluronic acid injected into their lips, influenced by social media videos. Some of them are unemployed and depend on their parents, so they have to save up (the vial costs between 200 and 400 euros).

Head of plastic and reconstructive surgery at HM Hospitales in Malaga Felipe Schmitt agrees with his colleagues that, in recent years, there has been an increase in people under the age of 30 in cosmetic surgery clinics. People under 25 or 27, above all, choose "hyaluronic acid", as they still don't have the type of wrinkles that require botox, so "they mainly have fillers" to get fuller lips, erase the dark circles under their eyes or enhance their cheekbones. Botox has traditionally been used above the age of 30, although this average is also going down.

"When someone as young as 16, 17 or 18 comes to my practice, the first thing I do is take a good look at their medical history to know if the patient really needs it. I think it's not that they are not ready, it's that they are still perhaps too influenced by social media and they create aesthetic ideals that are not very real," Dr Schmitt says. He often has young people who go to him with a photo of their idol, desiring an image that is not realistic. As Dr Schmitt states, these celebrities often undergo thousands of treatments to look like that and that is not even their real face.

The only surgery that can be performed under the age of 18 is otoplasty (repositioning of the ears). Above that age, one of the most common surgeries concern breast augmentation, although there are also cases of men undergoing gynecomastia surgery, that is, the reduction of male breasts.

"A classic breast augmentation can cost between 4,500 and 5,000 euros, while a male breast reduction is around 3,000 euros," Dr Schmitt says. Facial changes are less common, as young people are more cautious in this regard.

One of the main pieces of advice Dr Schmitt and his colleagues give to other doctors is to confidently turn away prospective patients if they believe they are not psychologically prepared.