Youth Not the Most Important Factor in Beauty for Maturing Women

Merz Aesthetics released data recently showing that only 24% of women polled in Merz's Face Value Beauty Survey believe youth is what makes women beautiful. Women were far more likely to say that "healthy skin," "a charming personality," "confidence," "sex appeal" and, perhaps surprisingly, "intelligence" and a "sense of humor" are what make a woman beautiful.

Encouragingly, most of the women surveyed believe that a woman is beautiful at every age. Nevertheless, a majority of women would want to improve their looks as they get older and more than 45% of women expressed that aesthetic procedures are a necessity not a luxury.

"Although most women (70%) report becoming more confident as they age, more than half (59%) say they will have aesthetic procedures to look the best they can," says Jérôme Augustin, senior vice president Merz Aesthetics Europe.

Overall, a majority of women surveyed (87%) believe it is possible to stay attractive and beautiful despite fading of youth. This is confirmed by the fact that more than half of women (56%) surveyed have already experienced at least one aesthetic procedure. In fact, women were most likely to have had a facial injectable as their first aesthetic procedure.

"As a dermatologist, I treat many women who hold similar beliefs to those surveyed," says Sabine Zenker, MD, Munich, Germany. "They seek out facial injectables, such dermal fillers because they want to take control of how they look without dramatically changing their appearance."

The survey, conducted online in October 2010 by Harris Interactive and commissioned by Merz, included 2,939 women from France (n=543), the United Kingdom (n=524), Italy (n=667), Spain (n=701), and Russia (n=504) who have experience with, or interest in, using facial injectable treatments of dermal fillers and other injectables. Women were asked a variety of questions about their thoughts and feelings related to what makes a woman beautiful, their own personal beauty and the role of aesthetic procedures in maintaining their appearance.

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