Of moon faces and curves: How trending beauty standards are fueling steroid misuse

Societal pressure is likely to trigger some women to try to fix their bodies to match beauty norms.

Through their self-critical perspectives, some women are struggling with weight management challenges such as weight gain, weight loss, or even their quest to achieve curves, later making them vulnerable to organ failure complications.

Unfolding the women’s beauty standard dynamics, there is a common usage of highly synthetic corticosteroid medications, which are identified to treat severe asthma attacks, skin disorders such as eczema, and autoimmune diseases like arthritis and lupus.

This prescription has been labelled as a restricted hormone-altering cortisol, which is produced by the adrenal glands. Biologically, prednisone is usually used by doctors to suppress the immune system and regulate inflammatory conditions.

In a scroll of TikTok feed, I came across videos of young women showing off their glowing, plump faces. Ones like those featured on Korean skincare products. 

The moon face is used to describe a medical sign characterized by a rounded, puffy face caused by fat deposits on the sides of the cheeks, temples, and jaw. 

In another instance, you would come across videos of ladies showing off additional weight – well, believed to be in the right places which define ideal curves. 

But could the drug be stripped of its health purposes, ignoring the emerging high risks of side effects while being mistaken as “beauty supplements.”

One pill, two deceptions

Several drugs are commonly used to alter weight by gaining or losing. Others use these medications to achieve the side effects, such as triggering their body’s metabolism, glucose regulation, and appetite, unaware of the health risks.

Over the ages, these medications have been used by many people in weight alteration. They include insulin-related pills such as glyburide, diabetes prescriptions like glyburide or off-label injectables like Ozempic, antipsychotics and mood stabilizers (lithium or olanzapine), known for their metabolic impacts, corticosteroids, and the older version of antihistamines.

The ’golden’ beauty standards

The digital world has created a pursuit for an ideal body, which has corrupted people’s perspective of perfection.

It is common to see an unhealthy obsession with having to shift from the early 2000s slim aesthetic to the now precise curvy slim-thick aesthetic that has made many women endanger their health.

But a health crisis would erupt when there’s no clarity or awareness of the damage inflicted on one’s immune system. 

Dr. Fatuma Dakane, a health practitioner from the Garissa County Referral Hospital, gives her review on the rising consumption of unprescribed prednisone in women, where she talks further on the dangers and effects.

 Is using unprescribed prednisone for weight gain a healthy effect?

"Uh, no, it’s not a healthy effect. What it does is it increases appetite, but it also induces insomnia, fluid retention, mood swings, mental disorders and anxiety. That 'weight gain' isn't healthy muscle; it’s fluid retention your kidneys are struggling with, and you end up with puffiness around the ankles and the face and body modification, but it carries a high risk of steroid-induced diabetes and high blood pressure,” Dr. Fatuma told Citizen Digital. 

Dr Fatuma further explains a scenario where some women experience severe bloating or a change in face shape.

"It slows down digestion that’s what it does to the gastrointestinal system. That is why you get severe bloating. And the puffiness? That is fluid retention. You’ll see it around the ankles and the face. It’s also why you get redness around the cheeks,” says Dr. Fatuma. 

According to the health practitioner, it can be impossible for an unprescribed steroid to safely regulate a healthy person's metabolism.

"Because it perturbs the hormones. It increases insulin resistance, which we call steroid-induced diabetes and causes adrenal gland suppression. You end up with high cortisol levels that your body wouldn't normally produce. You are forcing the body into a state of stress, and your random blood sugar will spike very high,” she says. 

She further explains that a person’s skin and bones could be at greatest risk when these steroids are misused. 

“The skin thins atrophy making it susceptible to UV rays and melasma; if you are in a harsh environment, you are at risk of skin cancer. As for the bones, you lose bone density. It’s like ageing: you’re 20, but your bones become thin and brittle like a 60-year-old’s. You risk fractures, osteoporosis, and joint degradation,” she says. 

The health practitioner adds that sudden discontinuation of such drugs could also harm the body. 

“If you do, your system will crash because your adrenal glands have stopped producing natural cortisol. You have to taper off slowly over 3 or 4 weeks, depending on how long you've been taking it. If you stop abruptly, it sends the body into the shock of its life, and you could end up in the hospital,” she says. 

The effects of these steroids on women also extend to their reproductive system.  

 "It interferes with your ovulation-inducing hormones, the luteinizing hormone and the follicle-stimulating hormone. It delays conception, causes egg release issues, and leads to recurrent miscarriages. It sends the body into the shock of its life,” says Dr. Fatuma. 

The reproductive effects also extend to men, who could suffer reduced sperm count and quality, and it can shrink the testicles. 

“The sperm motility becomes so low that they are basically 'shooting blanks' the sperm can't swim to the eggs. It is a very serious condition for men's fertility,” says Dr. Fatuma.

“People are blindly using this. You are suppressing your immune system, making yourself susceptible to every infection yeast infections, UTIs, and even life-threatening reactions to vaccines,” she adds. 

Ultimately, the deception that still lies in the digital era on the use of unprescribed medication amongst young women continues to form a public health crisis, where society debates the beauty standards, ‘dream body ’, endangering their body system.