The Aging Face Part 1: Pillow Face

They’re calling it “pillow face” and it’s all over the tabloids. What is pillow face? Any puffiness in the face of a female celebrity is being called pillow face. You might remember back in April of 2012 when Ashley Judd was accused of “having work done” and being criticized because her face looked so puffy. Ms. Judd slammed the media back with forceful statement about this “misogynistic assault on all women” by saying “We are unable at times to identify ourselves as our own denigrating abusers, or as abusing other girls and women.” This year Anjelica Huston became the target of criticism about her pillow face. Pictures of women, all excellent actresses, are juxtaposed against photographs of themselves when younger, with a caption that reads how much better they looked before cosmetic surgery. Julianne Moore said “I do feel like it becomes reductive when a woman’s life becomes, ‘Talk to me about your kids and how you feel about plastic surgery.'”  Female celebrities are under constant scrutiny. And what is up with this blatant lack of logic?

The face ages. No one remains the same. People lose and gain weight, get ill, and yes, they often have cosmetic surgery. I’d like to point out that women are also criticized for not aging well without cosmetic surgery. Witness the surgery free Kathleen Turner who struggled with debilitating arthritis, which finally went into remission. Even famous 1950s sex symbol Brigitte Bardot, who has had no cosmetic surgery and is almost 80, is said not be aging well! With or without cosmetic surgery, of course someone like Meg Ryan looked cuter when she was younger. Meanwhile, if you compare photographs from the tabloids criticizing Ms. Ryan to more serious articles with candid pictures, you see the 51 year old actress looks great. I suspect the worst photographs are chosen to prove a point, just as Photoshop is consistently used in the opposite way to enhance women’s features in advertising photographs. So why are we so ready to punish women for aging whether or not they have cosmetic surgery?

Any aesthetic surgery is meant to enhance one’s natural beauty. Often cosmetic surgery is meant to turn back the hands of time, to help one appear younger. The great pressure on mostly female celebrities to stay young looking and to be beautiful seems to be enforced by an audience of other women. All women in our culture feel the pressure of aging. With that introduction, Little Rock Cosmetic Surgery Center will next explain just how the face ages. Look for our next post!

Dr. Branman

Call Melinda at the front desk to set up a consultation 501-227-0707

Thanks to Genevieve719 for the picture of Ashley Judd.