Our Vice Chair, Dr Amita Jassi speak with The Observer about the growing obsession with skincare and how it may relate to BDD, particularly skin-focused preoccupations.
The dermatologist Dr Sasha Dhoat has seen it all: acne, psoriasis, unexplained rashes, flaky skin and rosacea. But lately she’s noticed a shift in her work: more and more patients presenting with problems caused by elaborate skincare regimes. Regularly, Dhoat tells me from her clinic on London’s Harley Street, she sees women in their 20s and 30s, sometimes young men, who’ve put on overnight masks that have caused an explosion of severe acne, or used retinol and found themselves suffering from eczema or burns.
Particularly alarming, she says, are the cases of children and teenagers using anti-ageing products and harsh chemicals which can cause permanent skin damage. Take the 12-year-old patient with a skin condition she treated yesterday. “She came in with at least 40 products that could have paid for a small family holiday. She said her peers had the same products and she’d seen them on TikTok. The mother felt pressured. She didn’t want her daughter to feel left out.”
Dhoat advocates a less-is-more approach to skincare. “Flawless skin is a completely unreasonable expectation for any of us,” she says. “I have two young girls. I’d never want them to lose their childhood to this pressure.”
Over the past five years the UK skincare market has exploded, expanding from £2.9bn to £4bn between 2019 and 2023, a growth of almost 38%. Men’s spending on skincare in the UK is increasing year-on-year. Gen Alpha – those born after 2010 – are driving 49% of skincare sales growth, while the British Association for Dermatologists has noted a significant rise in the use of anti-ageing products among teenagers. Reports show some 7.7 million people had an aesthetic treatment in the UK in 2023, including microblading, Botox or fillers. Teenagers are turning to “Baby Botox”: small doses marketed as preventative.
