REFLECTIONS
REFLECTIONS: ABOUT COSMETICS
AUTHOR Teresita Bacani-Oropilla, MD
S
eated at the lobby of an assisted liv-
ing facility, the 98-year-old retired
teacher was waiting for her ride to a
doctor’s appointment. Usually seen
shuffling along in her muumuu
to the dining room, she had been
transformed into a younger version
of herself.
Her snow white thinning hair had been puffed and coiffed by
the resident beautician the day before. She had red lipstick and
rouge on her cheeks. Dressed in a tailored suit, one could imagine
her walking the school halls and teaching her students capably. A
compliment made her smile!
Meanwhile around town, a pretty college student fussed about
the discoloration on the side of her nose. A horde of high school
teenagers, male and female, despaired over their hormone related
acne, thinking the world would end with each new bump. A group
of middle-aged professionals began to grimace at their graying
hair and wrinkles. Around the world, people with disfigured faces
due to cleft lips and developmental mishaps, or the scars of burns
and war injuries, are left with despair. Everyone with these feel-
ings over major or minor defects, at times felt that life was passing
them by, and things had to change.
To their rescue comes the burgeoning market to cure, alleviate
or cover up their miseries, giving them relief visually and allaying
their fears. Talk about the restorative power of cosmetics and their
kind!
A perusal of cultures both old and new, primitive or mod-
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LOUISVILLE MEDICINE
ern, shows that generations of people around the world use dec-
oration of faces and bodies to honor, display or emphasize their
beliefs and preferences. We read about or see documentaries of
body paintings of adolescents in their rites of passage from child-
hood to adulthood, or of facial paintings of warriors going to war.
Among our own kin and friends, those cheering for their favorite
basketball teams do the same, don’t they? Permanent or transient
religious symbols are traced on foreheads to affirm religions affil-
iations and beliefs.
It is said that, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” Where are
we in this spectrum?
Ads in our media indicate that modern men and women defi-
nitely want to preserve their youth. Witness the competition for
products that recapture a baby’s smooth skin, remove blemishes,
make wrinkles and eye bags disappear, and help drooping eyelids
and sagging jaws stay in their proper places. When unable to dis-
guise by covering up, injections and surgery take over.
If indeed, people can extend their youthful looks thus con-
tinuing to assert their young personalities and extend their pro-
ductive years; if our youth feel comfortable with and feel more
beautiful with their enhanced selves, thus encouraging them to be
future-oriented; if disfigurement corrected can change the course
of a person’s life, should we laud cosmetics? It is loosely defined as
“serving to beautify the body” whether non-medical, medical or
surgical, and ranks among the assets of our times.
What think you?
Dr. Bacani-Oropilla is a retired psychiatrist.