Keeping Mental Health in Mind

I am proud to be a mental health nurse and firmly believe that mental health should be integrated with other medical specialties. I was fortunate to complete a nurse training programme that gave me exposure on surigacl wards, medical wards, GP practice nursing, health visiting and midwiftery. My post-registration experience has involved nursing people with diabetes, on drips, on end of life pathways, with heart disease, on catheters… the list goes on. As a result I have been able to develop and maintain necessary clinical skills and care for a person’s mental health needs.

As this article shows, mental health needs are very prevalent and common ion my aesthetic practice. There should be no stigma in disclosing them and aesthetic professionals should take the time to screen for mental health conditions.

The Problem with Self Injecting

Juno Aesthetics is mindful about what content is put online with could be used by untrained lay people to instruct themselves on how to self-inject. As reported by Glamour Magazine and from just a quick scan on Youtube, there are people injecting themselves with dermal fillers. Not only are they dangerously unaware of the catastrophic risks of doing so but they are injecting on a 2-dimensional plane and will have challenges finding the right depth and use the right volume in key areas of the face to be treated.

A good non-surgical clinician will have an ethical responsibility to support good and safe decision making as regards your appearance and should make you aware that they do achieve great results and also in the habit on saying to their patients “enough” and your next steps for treatment will be in X number of months (and not earlier!) This is for your protection so that you continue to reach your aesthetics goals but not in a manner that will leave you appearing “over treated” or “odd looking.”

Mental Health Matters

It was Mental Health Awareness Week in the UK this May 2019 and their theme was #bebodykind and body image. Having body image concerns is a relatively common experience and is not a mental health problem itself; however, it can be a risk factor for mental health problems. Research has found that higher body dissatisfaction is associated with a poorer quality of life, psychological distress and the risk of unhealthy eating behaviours and eating disorders. Body image can be influenced by:

• relationships with family and friends

• how family and peers feel and speak about their bodies and appearance

• exposure to images of idealised or unrealistic bodies through media or social media

• pressure to look a certain way or to match an ‘ideal’ body type

There is a unique responsibility on aesthetic professionals to not pressure and expose non surgical treatments to people vulnerable to body image issues. There is a #cosmeticfilter campaign via Cosmetic Surgery Solicitors who launched a petition with Save Face to demand that Instagram do more to protect children from images from influencers that depict cosmetic enhancements. Find out more about the petition here.

Furthermore, aesthetics professionals can ensure they screen and ID check patients attending clinic. For instance, Superdrug’s Renew Aesthetic service is for over 25 year olds only. Professionals are also well placed to screen for mental health conditions using well recognised screens in general psychiatry and cosmetic medicine.

New online surveys were conducted by the Mental Health Foundation with YouGov in March 2019 of 4,505 UK adults 18+ and 1,118 GB teenagers (aged 13-19). The results highlighted that: 

• One in five adults (20%) felt shame, just over one third (34%) felt down or low, and 19% felt disgusted because of their body image in the last year. 

• Among teenagers, 37% felt upset, and 31% felt ashamed in relation to their body image.

• Just over one third of adults said they had ever felt anxious (34%) or depressed (35%) because of their body image.

• One in eight (13%) adults experienced suicidal thoughts or feelings because of concerns about their body image.

• Just over one in five adults (21%) said images used in advertising had caused them to worry about their body image. 

• Just over one in five adults (22%) and 40% of teenagers said images on social media caused them to worry about their body image.

  These worrying statistics highlight the impact of social media exposure and some of the broader advertising implications. But conversely, body satisfaction and appreciation has been linked to better overall wellbeing and fewer unhealthy dieting behaviours. To that end, there is a role for aesthetic professionals to reasonably and responsibly play a part in a person’s self care that is linked to their body image. But this should be countered by consideration of:

• Duty of care

• Substandard training and education

• When not to treat

• Psychological and psychiatric patient assessment/diagnosis

• When to refer

• How young is too young?

• Do no harm

• The absence of medical justification

• Absent/weak evidence base to support clinical practice

• Managing patient expectations

• Duty of candour

• Enticement.

  As highlighted by the #ethicsinaesthetics campaign by the Journal of Aesthetic Nursing.