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No, you should not try to break the bones in your face to obtain a square jaw, considered by some to be a mark of virility. The idea, as preposterous as it may be, could make you smile if it were not the subject of what some call a trend: ‘bone smashing’. A real danger for young men who would like to experience it.
Some obvious things are not necessarily obvious to everyone, even less so to younger generations looking for tips and methods supposed to improve their daily lives, and sometimes meet certain physical demands promoted by society. We have already seen this with ‘trends’ which, despite their dangerousness, have spread at great speed on social networks, such as Barbie Botox or even beer tanning, to name a few. And this continues today with ‘bone smashing’ which consists, as its name suggests, of… fracturing the bones of the face.
Breaking your bones to show off a more virile jawline?
The mere mention of this trend is terrifying, but it would nevertheless spread like wildfire on social networks, with TikTok in the lead. According to the videos posted on the Chinese social network, the idea would be to continuously hit the bones of the face, with your hands, massage tools, or a hammer (soft plastic, but still), and more particularly on the jaw, to create micro fractures in order to modify the bone structure. In this way, the jaw line would be more prominent, and would even take on an angular shape, responding to certain injunctions to virility. And according to those who have tested it, the result would be stunning – we discover a host of before/after photos on social media – despite the pain generated. As a result, the #bonesmashing hashtag already has nearly 300 million views.
A dangerous method
“To be honest, I never thought I would ever come here and say this, but please don’t intentionally break the bones in your face“, immediately alerted Dr Prem Tripathi, a cosmetic surgeon who works in California and regularly deciphers beauty techniques that have gone viral on social networks. The healthcare professional explains that bones have the ability to heal on their own, but if not done correctly, it can lead to facial deformity. In other words, followers of this method could find themselves disfigured. Enough to make some people want it.
A technique especially criticized
Reassuringly, if this dubious method already has nearly 300 million views, few users actually seem to have adopted it. Most just take the few videos that can be found on the subject to criticize them, and denounce a practice that a majority of Internet users consider – quite obviously – dangerous. The fact remains that this is not the first time that the jaw, and more particularly obtaining a square jaw, has been the subject of all kinds of techniques on social platforms, testifying to a desire to embrace certain standards. .
We have recently seen this with the craze for ‘chin lipo’, a liposuction of the chin intended to shape a more defined and athletic jaw, but also ‘mewing’, a technique which consists of practicing positioning rehabilitation exercises. of the tongue to obtain a square jaw, or even bichectomy, a cosmetic surgery procedure which again consists of sculpting the face so that it becomes more angular. As such, Dr Prem Tripathi reminds that no crazy practice presented on social media can modify the appearance of the jaw, which in all cases requires the advice and know-how of a cosmetic surgeon.