OPINION

BEAUTY OR HEALTH? A PERSONAL VIEW

Globalisation and changing view of beauty
Globalisation has impacted virtually all aspects of human activities. As rapidly as news travel across the continents, so do ideas about beauty.  The holding of the Miss World 2001 in South Africa generated intense media publicity and public interest in the African continent. The subsequent crowning of the Nigerian beauty Agbani Darego was reported to have significantly swayed the African women's perception about beauty - they now prefer to be thin like Agbani Darego.⁶

HEALTH RISKS IN BEAUTY PURSUIT
According to Psychology Today, "body preoccupation has become a societal mania”.⁷ Both men and women are increasingly becoming unhappy about their body image; the resulting poor self-esteem in many of them lead to a search for cosmetic enhancement.⁸ In the local context, a concerned medical doctor has expressed fears that  "people are killing themselves to look beautiful,"⁹ e.g. by injecting Botox to hide their wrinkles. The extraordinary demand for Botox in USA has raised valid security concern due to an increasing demand for the nasty bug Clostridium botulinum.¹⁰ Believing in the miraculous effects of slimming pills, a Singaporean actress nearly lost her life as result of acute liver damage.¹¹ According to Utusan Malaysia, more than 30 people in the USA have died of heart disease after taking slimming preparations that contained phentermine.¹² During an investigation of a case of mercury poisoning in an adolescent, it was found that many users of a Mexican beauty cream had significantly higher urine mercury concentration.¹³ The above are but a small fraction of the reported health risks linked to beauty products.

The preoccupation with beauty has made significant inroad among the adolescent females. It is possible that the desire to reduce appetite and hence to lose weight could be a major motivation to start and continue smoking among the adolescent girls. These impressionable youth are also more likely to partake in various procedures to alter their external appearance, such as eyebrow plucking, ear and lips piercing, and body-tattooing. Extreme concern with weight and body size among female adolescents is an important factor in the increasing incidence of the eating disorders anorexia nervosa and bulimia.¹⁴

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR HEALTH EDUCATION AND HEALTH PROMOTION PROGRAMMES
We all recognise that the physical appearance of a person can affect her/his social or economic success in life. What is of major concern is the preoccupation with physical attractiveness and the questionable medical necessity of cosmetic surgery. The clamour for more regulation for cosmetic procedures, whether performed by medically qualified personnel or otherwise, need to be tempered by the public demand for freedom and self-expression.^15,16

Women, who are the major targets of endless efforts by the beauty, cosmetic and fashion industries, need not fall into the traps set by the sophisticated advertisements. Females should develop a more enlightened understanding of beauty and health by resisting the persuasive advertisements solely designed to stimulate consumption of the products they represent.  To become discerning users of the information doled out by the mass media, they need to distinguish between sublimed advertisements that sometime camouflage as public education.

Television, as the dominant form of mass media, can and should provide a more balanced views concerning beauty and health. There is currently under-representation of women in health campaigns shown on the television, thus perpetuating the misinformation that health problems are only prevalent in men. Documentary films projecting a positive aspects of health and a more culturally sensitive view of physical beauty are sorely needed. The potential health risks of beauty products and procedure are not well publicised. On the other hand, many females prefer the quick route to weight loss by consuming slimming products rather than taking care of their diet or engage in more physical activity. For the obese, an appropriate level of body weight concern is actually useful but preoccupation with body image can be unhealthy in normal weight adolescent girls. In this regard, magazines targeting at this impressionable group should not go overboard in giving information on health, health risks, and health-related products.¹⁷

Health education is a life-long process, it is therefore crucial that it should be started early in life. How can we as parents and concerned member of the community encourage a positive regard for health and beauty, in particular for the girls as they grow up to be woman? There is a dearth of publication that takes into account our cultural context. More research should be done regarding how television and advertising are shaping opinions of the viewers and consumers, especially in relation to health and beauty.

REFERENCES

1. Brown L, Stevenson A (eds): Oxford Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2002.
2. Alam M, Dover JS. On beauty. Evolution, psychosocial considerations, and surgical enhancement. Arch Dermatol. 2001 Jun;137(6):795-807 [PubMed]
3. Wolf N. The Beauty Myths: How The Images Of Beauty Are Being Used Against Women.  Anchor Books: Doubleday; 1995. [Link]
4. Haliza MR.  Periklanan dalam Majalah Wanita: Tumpuan Terhadap Pemaparan Kecantikan dan Pengaruhnya Terhadap Imej dan Sikap Pembaca [thesis]. Kuala Lumpur: University of Malaya; 2003.
5. Abu Laban SM, McDaniel SA. Beauty, Status, and Aging. In: Mandel N (ed).  Feminist Issues. 2nd edition. Ontario: Prentice Hall; 1998.
6. Kompas.com. Globalisasi dan Perubahan Nilai Kecantikan. 2002, October 14. [Link]
7. Rudin  J. Body mania.  Psychology Today. 1992;25(1).
8. Pherson SM. Self-esteem and cosmetic enhancement. Plast Surg Nurs. 2005 January/March;25(1):5-20. [PubMed]
9. Soorian A.  People are killing themselves to look beautiful. The Star. 2002, July 30.
10. Kennedy D. Beauty and the beast. Science. 2002 Mar 1;295(5560):1601 [PubMed]
11. Andrea names actor who sold her Slim 10 pills. The Star. 2002, August 6.
12. Salleh Buang.  Mengawal produk pelangsing badan. Utusan Malaysia. 2002, July 23.
13. Weldon MM, Smolinksi MS, Maroufi A, et al. Mercury poisoning associated with a Mexican beauty cream.  West J Med. 2000 Jul;173(1):15-8 [PubMed] [Full text]
14. Huang AJ. Rethinking the approach to beauty in medicine.  JAMA. 2001 Nov 7;286(17):2158. [PubMed] [Full text]
15. Wijsbek H. The pursuit of beauty: The enforcement of aesthetics or a freely adopted lifestyle. J Med Ethics. 2000 Dec;26(6):454-8 [PubMed] [Full text]
16. Armstrong M. Tattooing, body piercing, and permanent cosmetics: a historical and current view of State regulations, with continuing concerns. J Environ Health. 2005 Apr;67(8):38-53 [PubMed]
17. Duerksen S, Mikail A, Tom L, et al. Health disparities and advertising content of women’s magazines: a cross-sectional study.  BMC Public Health. 2005 Aug 18;5:85 [PubMed] [Full text]

Address for correspondence: Assoc Prof Dr Haliza Mohd Riji, Head, Unit of Health Promotion, Department of Community Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor. Tel:  603-89468468, Fax:  603-89450151, Email: haliza@medic.upm.edu.my

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