Surgery

[Hannah_28]

I'm considering surgery, ever since I was really young, for as long as I can remember I've been judged over my appearance.. One of the things I've been judged on is my mouth, it's naturally down turning and I've lost count of how many times I've heard 'cheer up it might never happen' ironically this puts me on a real downer, when before they said it I was completely fine and perfectly happy. It's a big cause of my anxiety and so to have surgery to fix my mouth would take out a major factor in this curse of an illness. Just voicing my thoughts, thanks.

[Fourteen14]

Surgery is an extreme option.

I would say tackling your self esteem and anxieties first would be more important than changing your physical appearance.

Without tackling the real issues the self-critique often reaches out to other parts of the body.

For example (I will feel better with a smaller nose, I will be more confident with larger breasts, I will be less self conscious with a flatter stomach etc etc) Surgery can then become the answer to your emotional state rather than a reasoned choice.

If you really feel that altering the areas of the side of the mouth will make a difference to your anxieties, you could opt for Botox (injected into the muscles between the cheekbone and sides of the mouth to give you a lift).

This way, as it only lasts around 3 months, you could test out your theory before committing to permanent (and potentially disfiguring ) surgery.

[Hannah_28]

Because my anxiety and self esteem are so connected in so many ways I forget where one ends and the other begins, but I do feel that some action in this area will help, like you say perhaps Botox would be an option.. I'll look into it, thanks for responding.

[NixonRulz]

Keep in mind. Your lack of self esteem about your appearance may be part of your anxiety issues

Keep in mind that if you surgically fix what you want doesn't mean the anxiety goes away

They are two separate issues. You still need to address anxiety itself

It always finds a way back in to you after you think you fixed the cause

The cause isn't the problem as much as you have the likelihood of being anxious

[Hannah_28]

I just feel like, even if the anxiety doesn't completely go away, that if I fix a small part of it, it will at least shrink it a bit which might, in turn, make other things better.. Wishful thinking maybe.

[Dahila]

Hannah you are good looking woman and you do not need the knife to improve your appearance. I had seen you, :)) Like always anxiety is making us to feel like s*** full of insecurities, and low self esteem of course. I have same thing, even nothing wrong with the way I look.......:(

[Hannah_28]

How do you know what I look like? Facebook? Glad someone understands, it's hard isn't it?