Previous reports have provided (some) demographics of the cosmetic consumer; however, findings are not unequivocal. Employing a cross-sectional survey design this study provides a clear overview of a total of 734 Dutch cosmetic consumers’ (a) demographic characteristics; (b) motivations for undergoing a range of specific cosmetic procedures; (c) cosmetic procedure frequency, i.e., how frequently they undergo particular procedures; and (d) frequency of, and motivations for, switching clinics.

Jun 2024 — Anne-Mette Hermans, Sophie Boerman & Tom Decates

Cosmetic clinics use social media to inform and market to prospective patients. Evidence from social media posts by the UK and Dutch cosmetic clinics illus- trates the precarious balance between professionalism and commercialism, and raises important questions for the regulation of these marketing communication efforts. Methods A random selection of Instagram posts by Dutch and the UK clinics which offer (non-) invasive cosmetic procedures were selected for a qualitative content analysis. The corpus of data comprised 395 posts by six Dutch and four UK clinics, published between January 2018 and July 2019.

April 2023 - Anne-Mette Hermans

Today, young people spend much of their lives online where they encounter abundant appearance-focused content. In light of the important role that social media platforms like Instagram play in young people’s attitudes towards the cosmetic surgery industry, this study investigates passive and active social media usage in relation to young adults’ perceptions of cosmetic procedures.

Dec 2022 — Anne-Mette Hermans, Sophie Boerman & Jolanda Veldhuis

As reported by the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, increasing numbers of young adults undergo cosmetic procedures. In the Netherlands, young adults also constitute a growing proportion of injectable patients. Nevertheless, little research has examined this increased popularity of cosmetic procedures among young adults. Thereto, we developed an online survey which explored young adults’ intention to undergo cosmetic procedures and the perceived ‘normality’ of these procedures.

Jun 2022 — Anne-Mette Hermans, Sophie Boerman, Jolanda Veldhuis & Tom Decates

This paper critically examines how cosmetic surgery and ‘other’ beauty products are presented as forming a continuum in UK women's lifestyle magazines. Having analysed 744 adverts and various editorial features published across different lifestyle magazines, this paper qualitatively examines the categorization of cosmetic procedures and beauty products and treatments. The implications of this categorization for current attempts to regulate the marketing of the cosmetic surgery industry are considered.

Feb 2022 — Anne-Mette Hermans