Facial harmonizations: a psychoanalytic perspective of contemporary malaise

Abstract

Facial harmonizations are aesthetic, non-surgical procedures that have been being highlighted as a growing phenomenon in contemporary society. In this matter, we identify the face as a source of discomfort, or as a punctum, a concept created by Mieli to define the place of one’s own body that causes discomfort, and the desire to undo it. In this regard, the interest in carrying out bibliographical research on psychoanalysis arose, intending to draw a link between the pursuit of facial changes and psychoanalytic propositions about body interventions. We aim to understand the discomfort that affects bodies increasingly younger, choosing as subjects men and women between the ages of 20 and 40 who underwent the procedure. We question whether the motivation for the increase in procedures is due to the fear of aging. This article is justified because of the incidence of facial aesthetic procedures leading the top five positions of non-surgical methods most performed in Brazil, according to data from the last census of the Brazilian Society of Plastic Surgery (SBCP, In Portuguese: Sociedade Brasileira de Cirurgia Plástica). We conclude that the choice for harmonization procedures corresponds to crossings of the cultural dimension, such as the media, and the fear of aging, since the two most performed non-surgical procedures are intended to prevent and treat wrinkles and expression lines, and with a higher incidence of aesthetic procedures in the age group between 19 and 50.