Opinion: Is It Time We Start Being Honest About Our Cosmetic & Surgical Procedures?

OPINION: Transparency is trending. Off the back of Kylie Jenner’s cosmetic confessions, Ashleigh Cometti has questions.

In April, we asked leading appearance medicine doctors to surmise which undetectable cosmetic and surgical procedures the likes of Christina Aguilera and Lindsay Lohan had tried to leave them looking quite so “refreshed”.

Two months later, the veil has been lifted. We don’t need to question the interventions celebrities such as Kylie Jenner have done their bodies.

Why? Because she overtly told us.

The 27-year-old replied to comment from content creator Rachel Leary who earnestly asked: “Please can you just tell me/us/anyone that’s interested, what it is you asked for when you had your boobs done?”

In an unexpected twist, Kylie replied with the exact size, type and placement, along with the name of the Beverly Hills-based surgeon who performed her surgery.

“445cc, moderate profile, half under the muscle!!!!! silicone!!! garth fisher!!!” she commented, which has since been deleted.

Her air of nonchalance on the subject was clear, the excessive exclamation mark use and self-deprecating “hope this helps lol” tacked on to the end earned her widespread praise on social media, with many users commenting Kylie was a “girls’ girl” for being so open, or “This is why she’s for the girls,” wrote another.

Kylie divulging details of her breast augmentation isn’t the first time she’s spoken frankly about her cosmetic and surgical procedures.

In 2015 Kylie shared that she’d had lip filler on an episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians (despite spruiking her own “plumping” lip kits for coin), while in 2023 she revealed she’d had surgical enhancements, including breast augmentation.

It’s yet another example of the “Kardashian effect” or where the famous family dictates what’s universally “accepted” as the beauty standard of the time. Think the heavily contoured makeup look of the early 2010s.

In the time since Kylie’s comment, countless others have taken to social media to do the same, openly sharing their cosmetic procedures with pride.

Which begs the question: does owning which treatments you’ve tried help shed the taboo?

Registered nurse and cosmetic injector Camille Belle of Belle Aesthetics seems to think so, adding: “It definitely varies depending on age demographic. The younger generation tend to be more transparent about whatever they do. I get a lot of referrals from my younger clients. If someone asks them, they’re happier to divulge what they do,” she says.

“Whereas the older generation won’t. They won’t really be in before and afters. That’s people in their 40s or 50s - they want people to not know what they’ve done and for people to think that it’s all natural.”

“I’m their best dirty secret.”

Camille describes clients in their 40s and 50s as “positive agers” who have a penchant for more subtle “tweakments” replacing what they did have before the effects of ageing became more visible, like foundational filler.

A new era of transparency

This paradigm shift has left many pop culture commentators questioning if this level of transparency is the bodily equivalent of loud luxury - a concept that areas of the body are “branded” by the doctor who sculpted them.

Bag by Balenciaga, boobs by Dr Garth Fisher.

A recent article on the subject penned by New York Times journalist Rhonda Garelick pointed to the fable of Pygmalion, which was written in 8 A.D. and details how an artist falls in love with an ivory sculpture depicting beauty ideals, called “Galatea”.

Rhonda went on to explain that the modern-day take are Galatea in reverse - instead morphing into the artist’s creations through what she refers to as “tinkering and inanimate substances”.

Pop culture watchdogs were quick to add that this notion props up the rhetoric that beauty can be “bought” for a designer price-tag, to whomever has the means - serving to reinforce the ongoing inside joke: “I’m not ugly, just poor”.

Is honesty the best policy?

On the contrary, is it about time that people just be a little more honest?

Personally, I’ve never subscribed to the idea that cosmetic or surgical procedures should be shrouded in secrecy. In many cases, it’s rather obvious that some level of intervention has been done.

This trend towards transparency is a far cry from the “has she / hasn’t she?” question that pervades undetectable aesthetics, a movement which prioritises skin integrity alongside natural-looking procedures that are virtually imperceptible.

My philosophy when it comes to beauty treatments - invasive or not - is if it makes you happy, don’t let anyone convince you otherwise.

It comes with the territory as part of my role as beauty editor to put my face on the line - I’ve tried Botox, lip filler, chemical peels, HIFU skin tightening, Rejuran (aka polynucleotide or salmon sperm) injections, BBL, Renuva laser resurfacing and so, so much more.

Maybe that’s why I’m so open, my line of work demands me to be.

A chronic over-sharer, I’ll tell anyone who’ll listen about the time I tried a six-layer peel in the lead-up to my wedding (I spent a week indoors while my entire top layer of skin shed like a snake), or what I really thought about having salmon sperm injected into my face (hint: ouch).

That is to say, there’s a level of freedom that comes with “owning it”.

Real women, real honest

Amber Alatini is one such local content creator who has openly shared her surgical advancements, in a reel shared to Instagram.

“405cc, under the muscle, silicone, mentor teardrop, moderate profile, lift, Dr Scott Turner” read the text overlaid on a before and after video.

The video was accompanied by a caption which explained Amber’s stance on surgical interventions, saying: “Although surgery is not something I want to openly promote, if it’s something that you want and have chosen to do I am very pro that.”

Film and television actress Ria Vandervis tends to agree, saying the topic of transparency shouldn’t make others feel like they have to keep up.

“I think that people sharing what they do cosmetically is cool, if they are comfortable with it, but I do hope that it doesn’t make others feel like it’s something that they should be doing,” she says.

“Because appearance medicine can be great, but ageing gracefully is pretty cool, too.”

The former Shortland Street star has been a client at Caci’s Epsom clinic for the past seven years, and is open about the suite of treatments she’s tried throughout that period - including Botox and micro-needling.

“I have noticed an amazing transformation in my skin - it feels stronger and more taut, and more pores feel smaller,” Ria says of her micro-needling treatments.

Despite having tried it, Ria says she’s still on the fence about Botox, especially in her line of work. “While I mostly love the results, as an actor you need to be able to move your face so too much isn’t a good thing! But a small sprinkle in between the eyes and around the forehead is pretty nice,” she says.

Mum-of-two Kendyll Hanley had her breast augmentation in Bangkok, Thailand, 10 years ago and says she’s still happy with the result. She’ll have them redone in a few years time, as is standard for silicone breast implants, which mostly need to be refreshed after a decade.

When asked if she feels people should be more open about the surgeries or procedures they’ve had, she says: “I feel people should share publicly. I’m definitely not ashamed of them [breast implants].”

This week, American reporter Catt Sadler spoke to Glamour magazine about the after-effects of her facelift, neck lift and blepharoplasty two years ago, saying: “I think every woman deserves to look in the mirror and like her own reflection.”

And I tend to agree - 445cc silicone implants or not.

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