 At Aglow Dermatology, our motto is “healthy skin is beautiful skin.” What does this mean? Isn’t health more important than beauty? Or are they not so different?
A patient once asked me if it were okay that she were in my office to treat her acne. Although her acne was not the worst, she had a number of red papules on her face. She was concerned that she was overreacting by seeking treatment at all…and that I might think she were vain.
We are psychologically wired to understand that health skin is beautiful skin
Although acne is not a life-threatening disease, and aside from the fact that it can be literally painful, some studies show that it causes more psychosocial distress than diabetes or high blood pressure. Why is appearance so important to human beings? Are we just being vain if a pimple bothers us? Why do we sometimes behave as if beauty is a matter of life or death? The answer is because sometimes it is.
Status anxiety
A few years ago I read an amazing book that really heightened my compassion. It’s called Status Anxiety by Alain De Botton.
The take away message for me was that status and appearance come down to our fear of not being treated well. Throughout human history being treated well has been a matter of life or death.
It might effect whether or not we would get to mate and have children, get access to resources needed to survive, or whether or not someone would try to physically attack or kill us.
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“Beauty” gives us signals about health and more
One of the reasons we respond to beauty so much is that if gives us signals about other things. We are, after all, social animals. Our skin, hair and nails, say alot about our beauty, but also are unconscious windows  into our health status. Are we fertile or already pregnant? Do we have a disease? Are we healthy? Too old to defend ourselves or lead the group? Are we malnourished? Do we have wealth and a status that would give us access to privileges and protection?
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The description of healthy skin is beautiful skin
How would you describe beautiful skin? Usually people would answer that it is smooth, luminous and supple (a sign of youth and good nutrition), that it is evenly pigmented and not inflamed (i.e. without disease), and that there are no lesions or scars (indicating a possible problem or injury). We are hard wired to react to distractions on the skin as part of our survival. What we see on the surface may have a deeper meaning. For humans healthy skin is beautiful skin.
This doesn’t mean that we we have to loose perspective about a pimple.
My patient came up with a funny analogy about why her acne bothers her. She said, it’s like having food in your teeth. No, it won’t kill you, but it certainly distracts people you are interacting with.
And to change the subject from our status anxiety about our appearance to the status anxiety of working mothers, check out Dr. Strachan’s quote on abcnews.com in an article about questions working mothers don’t like to hear and what these question may mean to us.
Looking for a dermatologist in NYC for your skin health or beauty needs? Schedule a consultation with our board-certified dermatologist here.
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