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About a decade ago, when Katey Kristabelle was in her early 20s, she had a nurse practitioner inject hyaluronic-acid filler under her eyes. “That was what girls were doing,” says Kristabelle. “If you had under-eye circles, you got filler. It didn’t matter how old you were; filler was the answer.” At first, the filler did what it was supposed to do (restore volume in the area) so she liked the results. Besides, even if she hadn’t, “it’s not forever,” she recalls being told. At the time, practitioners believed hyaluronic-acid filler dissolved over time, but recent studies found that that’s not necessarily true. “I started waking up with very puffy eyes and sometimes even bruises under my eyes,” says Kristabelle. She believes this was caused by the filler. “I very much regretted getting it done.” To add to that regret, her values shifted. She has since become a holistic aesthetician, leaning toward massage-focused treatments instead of needles for herself and her clients. “I felt so guilty for having this filler while advocating for more natural alternatives,” says Kristabelle. “It was hard mentally.” Kristabelle isn’t alone as some believe we’ve entered the age of beauty-procedure regrets. In-office procedures, from filler and Botox to rhinoplasty and buccal-fat removal, have become more common, but many are coming forward about regretting their decisions to plump this and remove that. What causes the regret? “Sometimes it’s as simple as their goals having changed, but most of the time it’s because of a lack of education,” says Dr. Ron Somogyi, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon and co-founder of Toronto-based practice Form Face + Body. “They never had a conversation with their practitioner about why they were doing it, and they weren’t given a vision of how it would look.” What’s more, he says, they concentrated on the immediate results without considering how they might look down the line. No one appears to be immune to these feelings. Even Brooke Shields experienced regret after attempting to enhance her most famous feature: her eyebrows. In January 2025, New York-based dermatologist Macrene Alexiades shared an Instagram video revealing that she had performed two laser treatments on the actor to get rid of an orange stain from an eyebrow-tattoo (a.k.a. microblading) job. In 2022, model Bella Hadid opened up to Vogue about getting rhinoplasty at age 14, saying, “I wish I had kept the nose of my ancestors.” And in 2023, actor Courteney Cox revealed on the Gloss Angels podcast that she got carried away with filler but luckily “was able to reverse most of it.” [instagram-oembed url=”https://www.instagram.com/p/DFXy3nTxr49/” /] Kristabelle, who, like Cox, eventually had her filler dissolved (this can be done to hyaluronic-acid-based filler using an injectable enzyme called hyaluronidase), says regret is an issue among her clients. “They are looking to break up with Botox and are dissolving fillers,” she says. “They wish they had known the information they know now”: that fillers don’t always go away or look natural. It’s not just filler or surgical procedures that cause regret. The same can be said for non-invasive treatments that seem relatively harmless, like laser hair removal. A friend recently confided that she regrets having all of her pubic hair zapped off. “It was the trend back then to go completely bare,” she says. “But now my body doesn’t feel womanly.” Then there’s microblading, the aforementioned eyebrow-tattooing technique that peaked in popularity seven or eight years ago and, in many cases, lasts much longer than the “temporary” results initially promised. Kristabelle says she’s seen many people reconsidering microblading because their brows didn’t turn out how they had envisioned or, over time, trends changed or the ink became an undesired colour, like orange or blue. “Being stuck in shoulda, woulda, couldas is highly distressing,” says clinical psychologist Amber Cohen. “Regret can be a challenging emotion because it often involves a sense of self-blame.” These feelings can be all-consuming, causing embarrassment and an inescapable yearning to go back to what you once had. Of course, it’s not shocking that so many of us feel compelled to get treatments in the first place. “The rise of social media and the constant exposure to curated and filtered images hasn’t helped,” says Cohen. Some before and after photos have us believing that certain treatments and procedures are as effective at face-perfecting as Facetune’s most talented users—and who could resist that? But as we’ve learned, we must proceed with caution. So, the question is “How does one regret-proof their beauty routine?” [tik-tok-video url=”https://www.tiktok.com/@glossangelespod/video/7208637899712171310″ /] According to Somogyi, communicating with your practitioner is key so your expectations align. “If my client has a picture in their head of something different than what I have in my head, they’re going to have regrets,” he says. He also suggests separating appointments. Allowing time between inquiring about the procedure and getting it done gives you an opportunity to brew up a batch of questions. “You cannot make a life-changing decision, [which many beauty treatments can be], without asking a few hard questions,” he says. You’ll also want to request to see before and after pictures of your practitioner’s clients. “You wouldn’t hire an artist whose art you’ve never seen to make you something,” says Somogyi. Also, the practitioner should be able to provide examples of a case similar to yours so you have an idea of the likely results. Another factor to consider is how the results will withstand the passage of time. Somogyi discusses with his patients how a procedure will look in the next decade—which is particularly important when they request trend-driven surgeries like buccal-fat removal. “You don’t want that fat in your cheeks right now,” he says, “but in 10 years, you might.” The final factor? Consider whether or not you’re a good candidate—from a mental-health standpoint. According to Cohen, that means you should have a healthy relation ship with your self-image and not rely “on the procedure to be the sole thing that boosts your self-worth.” Before hopping into a practitioner’s chair, assess your motivations by asking “Am I doing this for myself or to meet someone else’s standards?” and “How will I feel if the results aren’t what I imagined?” These are helpful questions to ponder when making any big life decision, really. This article first appeared in FASHION’s April 2025 issue. Find out more here. Continue Reading
