… that injectables of all sorts have been used for cosmetic purposes for over a century? Paraffin, a waxy substance used to make candles, was the substance of choice for a host of aesthetic procedures. Paraffin injections, first used in Vienna in the 1880s, were administered to reshape noses and to plump up wrinkles, sunken cheeks and tell-tale scrawny necks. If this sounds awful, that’s because it was.
Disfiguration was guaranteed. Shortly after injection, the paraffin wandered and clumped, resulting in lumps and pus-filled ducts in almost all patients. More serious complications included blindness, blood clots and even death. In addition, the removal of the paraffin lumps always left telltale scars. The elimination of these “paraffinomas” made up a large part of early plastic surgeons’ practice, thus providing them with a double source of income. Remarkably, paraffin injections remained in use for decades despite the fact that the results were virtually always catastrophic.
Perhaps the best-known victim of paraffin injections is Consuelo Vanderbilt, the Duchess of Marlborough, mistress of Blenheim Palace. Acknowledged to be one of the most beautiful women in the world, her 1906 portrait by Giovanni Boldini (shown above) hangs in New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art as a testament to her swan-necked beauty. In 1935, her looks fading, she had paraffin injected into her facial wrinkles. The paraffin meandered all over her face, forming bumps and grooves. Feeling utterly deformed, she withdrew from society and remained a recluse until her death in 1964. I suppose there is no limit to what people will endure in the universal quest for youth and beauty.
Writing about Madonna and injectables and the maintenance of youthful looks made me curious about the history of cosmetic procedures and also about extremes people have gone to in order to alter their appearance. So, I dug a little and came upon some interesting facts which I will share in a new topic: “Did you know …” I will post about this on occasion, whenever I will come across something relevant or just plain incredible.
4 Comments
Wow! Yuck! Gross! But, maybe people will be saying that about our use of Botox and Restylane 100 years fron now.
Guess no stone will be left unturned in the effort to look young and beautiful.
I love that portrait but had no idea of her use of parrafin injections…thanks for the tidbit!
Coincidently, Gladys Deacon, also a famous beauty of her day and once a great friend of Consuelo and her successor as wife of the ninth duke, suffered the same horrific fate according to Diana Mitford Mosley.
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