Kylie Jenner and Molly-Mae Hague dissolve their cosmetic filler does this mean the trend is outdated?

Aesthetics expert Dr Raffaella Gabassi who operates out of Harley Street said: “I have seen a shift towards a more natural and subtle approach to cosmetic treatments. A lot of clients are seeking natural looking enhancements, wanting to avoid looking overly done or artificial. They want to look refreshed and rejuvenated, rather than drastically altering their appearance.”

However, some do not believe filler will be dying out anytime soon Instagram influencer Charlie Baker, 17, from Lancashire said: “Celebs aren’t getting them dissolved, they’re just getting less to look more natural. The filler I’ve got, you can’t really tell that I’ve had it done, that’s what celebs are loving at the moment.”

The social media personality and author has had 1.2 ml of lip filler and 1 ml of cheek filler this year despite his age. In England, you have to be over 18 to have injectables in your face, but I was shocked to find out that in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, you can legally be under-18 and have fillers injected into your face.

Charlie said: “I didn’t want to have them done as such. I just felt the need to. People would always point out insecurities of mine and it would make me want to change myself, so I did." He added "Honestly, it did feel really good. I walked around with confidence for the first time in what feels like forever.”

The fact Charlie felt he had to have filler is heartbreaking because he is so young. Ultimately, it is his body and it's completely his decision whether or not to make changes to it, especially if it makes him happy and confident. I just wonder if his confidence ever would have been slashed if he wasn’t on social media in the first place, and maybe he wouldn’t have made these changes if people weren’t pressuring him to.

The first time he had filler, Charlie hadn’t done any research because the treatment was gifted to him as an influencer, but he said he did make sure to look at their certificates that were hung on the wall. He said: “I just kind of sat down and they injected me, then off I waltzed.” This lack of research into a practitioner really worries me, especially if you are trusting them to inject your face.

Dr Joshua Van der Aa has a Harley Street practice, and echoed Charlie's thoughts. He said: Done subtly, dermal fillers minimise these deficits and help restore a rejuvenated, well-rested appearance. For this reason, I know correctly-administered filler treatments won’t be disappearing anytime soon. But, you’ll hopefully have a hard job working out who’s had any work done. That’s the whole point.”

I think that rather than fillers becoming extinct, people are just asking for less volume in their face, and the work people are having done is becoming less obvious. This raises concerns over the responsibility of influencers and whether they have a duty to declare to their followers that they have had work done, or whether this is their prerogative not to disclose.

The line between projecting a false image of yourself to the world, and wanting to be happy within yourself while being under intense scrutiny from people on social media, is a fine line, and I don’t envy anyone walking it.

While you may think practitioners would be upset at the demise of these enhancements, Dr Anatalia Moore is “overjoyed” to see patients boycotting procedures like Russian lips, pixie tip noses and cut jaw lines.

Crediting celebrities like Molly-Mae for starting the trend of dissolving fillers and encouraging people to opt for a more subtle look, she said: “Patients, particularly within the younger age groups, are recognising more, what I have preached for a long time, that their unique beauty and individual features are what should be celebrated. People are definitely over the overfilled trend.”

Although celebrities appear to be going back to their natural looks, it is entirely possible that they’re still enhancing their appearances, but just not going for the over the top look that used to be popular.

Aesthetics practitioner Dr Ed Robinson who runs a practice based in Altrincham, Cheshire, said more of his patients are asking for smaller volumes of filler or different treatments. He said: “Overfilling is out and natural results and understated elegance is in. People have seen pictures of overfilled faces, or noticed their friend who possibly went overboard on the lips.”

Dr Ed explained that people want to focus on treatments that improve the condition of their skin as much as possible and that skin-boosting treatments like polynucleotides (derived from salmon), platelet-rich plasma (from blood cells), skin boosters and collagen-banking procedures are the most popular natural procedures at the moment.

This parallels the wellness-trends on social media such as the ‘clean girl aesthetic’ or being a ‘pilates princess’ or even shopping at expensive LA supermarket Erewhon. What all these trends have in common however, is that they are all centred around wellness and self-improvement. I think the rising popularity of looking natural, serves as evidence of a more general trend in society where people are trying to prioritise self-care and wellness more in their daily practices.

So, no, I don’t think filler is going out of fashion. What I do think, is that the filler we once knew that produced overemphasised facial features will be disappearing from our favourite celebrity faces as society begins to rank well being and even self-love higher and higher up the values list.

As for the responsibility influencers have to their audiences, I’ve no solution for this yet but can only hope that those who feel a responsibility to younger followers looking up to them choose to be transparent and open about cosmetic procedures in an attempt to alleviate any potential damage this could cause.