We live in a world where it can feel as though there’s a “fix” for every wrinkle, every line, every perceived “imperfection”. Injectables have become so normalised that people are now starting them at younger and younger ages – often without questioning what this means for their bodies over the long term.

Most people don’t realise that the very substance behind one of the most popular treatments – botulinum toxin, known commercially as Botox – is one of the deadliest toxins found in nature. In its natural state, it can cause life-threatening paralysis. Of course, in medicine and aesthetics, it is used in extraordinarily tiny, carefully controlled doses. 

It is considered ‘safe’ because the dose is so small.

Yet here’s the piece that often gets overlooked: every single thing you put into your body is metabolised somehow. Even if the dose is minimal, many substances must still be broken down, their structure altered, before they can be eliminated. Some substances create by-products from their metabolism which are also problematic and require attention so they can efficiently exit the body. This might not feel like much, yet consider it in the context of an average modern lifestyle.

Our liver and gut microbiome are already working around the clock. They filter alcohol. They process (or are harmed by) additives, preservatives and artificial substances in ultra-processed foods. They tackle pesticide residues, other environmental pollutants and hundreds of synthetic chemicals we encounter daily through skincare, cleaning products and plastics. All of these substances are considered ‘safe’ in small doses. But we don’t know much about the story of them all together. 

Add to this the hormones our bodies naturally create that need to be metabolised, including the stress hormones many of us produce almost relentlessly. Now imagine layering in an additional substance, however small, every three or four months – not just once, but for decades, if begun in your twenties.

Could this cumulative load, over time, be quietly adding to the persistence of other symptoms – lousy energy, bloating, hormonal challenges – that people can’t quite resolve? It’s not something we can easily measure, but it’s worth pausing to consider.

There is another layer to this conversation too, one that reaches deeper than biochemistry. 

Every crease, every line etched into our skin tells a story. They carry the imprint of the trials we have survived, the resilience we’ve forged, the joy and elation we’ve felt along the way. Our faces are living records of all that has unfolded to bring us here. 

And there is something profoundly beautiful about allowing those stories to be seen.

I read a statement that the actress Linda Hamilton (Sarah Connors – who could do chin ups, remember? 😀) recently made. She is reported to have said: “I do not spend a moment trying to look younger on any level, ever. I have completely surrendered to the fact that this is the face that I’ve earned.” 

This is not to shame anyone who chooses injectables – it is to invite reflection. To remember that true vitality is not found in freezing or erasing our history. It’s found in nourishing our bodies with real food, supporting our detoxification pathways with nutrients and herbs, reducing the unnecessary burdens we can affect, contributing to others and allowing others to do the same for you, and cultivating pride in the resilience our lives have required of us.

Perhaps the greatest “anti-ageing” secret is not another needle, but the decision to live in a way that honours both our biology and our story.