In a new documentary, broadcaster and journalist Caoimhe Ní Chathail is on a mission to lay bare the facts about non-surgical cosmetic procedures – who is getting them and why they are getting them.
Croí na Ceiste le Caoimhe, made for BBC Gaeilge by Waddell Media with the support from Northern Ireland Screen’s Irish Language Broadcast Fund, airs on Monday, February 1st on BBC Two Northern Ireland at 10 pm.
Executive Producers are Jannine Waddell and David Cumming for Waddell Media; Áine Walsh for the ILBF and Karen Kirby for BBC Gaeilge. Sarah Reddin is the producer and director of Croí na Ceiste le Caoimhe.
Aesthetic treatments such as Botox and lip fillers are now popular with many young people who see them as an accepted and normal way of stopping the aging process or have tried to boost their self-esteem or because they feel pressure to look a certain way. Caoimhe also looks at who is providing these treatments, how safe they are, and whether we care if it all goes wrong.
In the programme, Caoimhe talks to a number of people who regularly have the procedures done. She finds out why they do it and at what age young people are now considering facing the needle.
She asks if we’re under more pressure to look good – bombarded with social media images – and do we live in a society where we continually seek others’ approval? Can people become addicted to these treatments and is it more unusual now not to have tried something?
With the promise of fuller lips and fewer wrinkles, it’s big business and there’s no shortage of non-surgical treatments available. Caoimhe speaks to practitioners in the industry about the pitfalls and dangers that can lurk behind the polished and shimmering salon doors and the need for anyone thinking of getting a treatment to research and to be informed beforehand. Viewers get to see close up what it’s like to get treatment as we follow one contributor to a practice providing the service.
Croí na Ceiste le Caoimhe is on BBC Two Northern Ireland on Monday, February 1st at 10 pm.