A war is being waged on an unknown facial feature: the nasolabial fold.
Celebrities and influencers are aggressively using PhotoShop, Facetune, plastic surgery and cosmetic dermatology to beat the common “smile lines” that run from the side of the nose down the side of the mouth. Fans are eagerly joining the fight against what was once a normal part of facial anatomy – and associated with joy – but now it’s the latest beauty boogeyman.
Google searches for nasolabial folds have more than doubled since 2021, and Beverly Hills boutique plastic surgeon Jonathan Sykes told The Post that nasolabial folds are one of the most common complaints he receives during consultations.
Social media pressure and unrealistic beauty standards forced 27-year-old Sabrina Patriarca to pay $800 to have filler injected into her nasolabial folds last year.
“I always felt like I had more lines than the average person and it was just an insecurity of mine,” said the Miami real estate agent. “I felt like it was aging me and adding a bit of heaviness to the lower part of my face.”
At first she was pleased with the results, but once the swelling went down, Patriarca saw the filler start to migrate down in an unfortunate way.
She’s had numerous cosmetic procedures — lip fillers, botox, rhinoplasty and breast augmentation — and has never regretted anything she’s done, other than filling in the folds.
Ultimately, she underwent a painful procedure to dissolve the filler by injecting an acid that breaks it down.
But even then, it lasts.
“I can definitely still see it giving me a jowl effect and it looks like two little balls weighing down the sides of my face,” she said.
Sykes notes that her experience is common. Nasolabial folds have unfairly become an aging scapegoat.
“People think these folds are their age, but personally I don’t feel that way,” Sykes, the former president of the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, told The Post.
“I think anything about your crease ages you, but people tend to seek out crease treatment because it’s something they can identify as being a little deeper than other lines on their face.”
He says the demand for correcting nasolabial folds has been overwhelming, but often fruitless: “Some people have folds they’ve had since they were fifteen and it won’t go away with treatment.”
Instead, he recommends treating facial aging, either by injection or surgery, which he says is much more effective. He tries to steer clients away from nasolabial fold injections whenever possible.
Photo editing is a much less risky way to erase nasolabial folds.
On Instagram, a number of celebrities, including Bella Hadid, Julia Fox and Ariana Grande, have been accused of blurring their smile lines to create a perfectly smooth, china doll look.
Facetune — a popular app for amateur photo editors — even offers an AI wrinkle tool that automatically blurs lines, including nasolabial folds.
Los Angeles fashion photographer Marina Kaya said that while she’s seen some celebrities Photoshop nasolabial folds in a way that looks “unnatural,” she hasn’t had clients ask for those specific creases to be retouched.
It erases lines only under certain circumstances.
“I personally choose to remove them for the purpose of changing the facial expression,” she said, noting that they can make a model look angry.
The trend is just the latest hyper-obsession with a small attribute, albeit a somewhat sad obsession.
The lines that deepen with every laugh and smile are now on the chopping block.
“It’s ironic how those lines are called your smile lines and it’s just from being happy,” Patriarca said.
“Smiling too much does that, and it’s disgusting, which is a shame.”
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Image Source : nypost.com