Understanding the role of non-surgical cosmetic practices in health, gender and ageing

Non-surgical cosmetic practices and technologies include a wide range of drugs, procedures and treatments including injectables, lasers and other aesthetic treatments that are changing how we experience health and ageing.

This Australian Research Council-funded project will investigate the advertising, experience, and use of non-surgical cosmetic treatments and drugs in everyday life and in relation to changing intersections of health, beauty, ageing and gender.

Through qualitative research methods, including cosmeceutical advertising analysis, interviews and photo-voice diaries with consumers on non-surgical treatments and interviews with medical and aesthetic practitioners, this project expects to generate new knowledge on the relationship between non-surgical cosmetic drugs, treatments and technologies and contemporary experiences of ageing, health, gender and the body.

Expected outcomes include a high-quality knowledge base to strengthen regulation efforts and improve cosmetic and healthcare practice, as well as new knowledge on transformations in health, beauty, gender and ageing.

This project has been undertaken to learn more about:

1. The meanings given to non-surgical cosmetic practices and technologies in digital advertising, and the scientific and medical knowledges shaping advertising claims, focusing on the areas of health, ageing and gender;
2. How non-surgical cosmetic practices and technologies shape consumers’ experiences of ageing, health and gender, and the individual and social forces shaping the dynamics of consumption;
3. Consumers’ understandings of how non-surgical cosmetic practices and technologies work, risks and harms to identify informational needs and preferences;
4. The specific practices of non-surgical cosmetic practices across different settings and among different subgroups;
5. The experiences of relevant practitioners, including their views on responding to new and emergent patterns of anti-ageing non-surgical cosmetic practices in Australia.

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Further information

For more information about the study, or the participate in a confidential interview, please contact Dr Renae Fomiatti on 03 9479 8702 or at r.fomiatti@latrobe.edu.au

Researchers

Dr Renae Fomiatti, Dr Gemma Nourse

Funding

This study is funded by the Australian Research Council, and has received La Trobe University ethics approval (HEC24349)