What is beauty?

Posted: February 13, 2019

Have you ever wondered what beauty is? Does beauty mean the same thing to all people? It is not a cultural construction, and an invention of the fashion industry, nor a backlash against feminism. Beauty is an essential and ineradicable part of human nature that is revered and ferociously pursued in nearly every civilization, and for good reason! Beauty is not subjective. Men and women across cultures generally have the same opinions on who is and who is not beautiful. Ideal beautiful female features include flawless skin, symmetrical features, arched brows, large eyes, high cheekbones, a small nose, full lips, tight lower jaw with a sharp jaw angle.

As a student of science, I see beauty as an expression of biology. Beauty features to which we are most attracted are often signals of fertility and fecundity. Take the cross-cultural preference for full lips versus deflated lips. Lip fullness is actually a function of a woman’s estrogen level and its size is hormonally determined. During fertile years, female estrogen level is high. Lips being an external sign of fertility or readiness to produce offsprings, are full during fertile years. As perimenopause and menopause creep up and the estrogen level of the woman falls, lips lose their fullness and become deflated. When seen in the context of the Darwinian struggle for survival, our sometimes extreme attempts to attain beauty—both to become beautiful ourselves and to acquire an attractive partner— become understandable.

As a student of sociology, I see beauty as a social currency. The more of it you have the more successful you will be in all sorts of social interactions. Beautiful people have an advantage in finding better jobs and negotiating salaries. Companies with good looking executives are more successful. The find better mates. They are more persuasive and better communicators. They are more successful in politics. They are perceived as more likable and more trustworthy. And the list goes on

Whether you see beauty as biology or social currency, no wonder we all want more of it. And that brings me to what I do, my calling to transform my patients into the most beautiful version of themselves and thus bring them happiness and more self-confidence

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