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<p>Looksmaxxing, also termed looksmaxing or looksmaxx, refers to a set of practices aimed at maximizing physical attractiveness through behavioral, cosmetic, medical, and sometimes surgery or even extreme physical interventions. Seemingly originating in male-oriented internet forums in the 2010s, the concept has since migrated into mainstream social media, particularly TikTok, where it is framed as a strategy to “level up” appearance. This review synthesizes emerging academic papers in PubMed and gray literature on looksmaxxing, categorizing common practices, examining psychological and ethical implications, and identifying gaps and relationship to Otolaryngology, Head &amp; Neck Surgery and facial aesthetics. The study manifests the scarcity of quality research on the matter. Sources clustered into softmaxxing (low-risk lifestyle practices with limited evidence), hardmaxxing (medical or surgical interventions for permanent change), and extreme or harmful practices such as “bonesmashing” (high-risk or misinformed behaviors). Across all categories, recurrent psychosocial themes included body dissatisfaction, appearance-based social comparison, male-focused appearance anxiety, and traits overlapping with body dysmorphic disorder. Looksmaxxing is an upcoming social media-based aesthetic culture trend. When performed unsupervised in its extreme form, surgeons should be advised that it can lead to physical facial harm and psychological distress, while its mild forms appear to be related to facial care and a healthy lifestyle. Very limited scientific evidence is currently available, and more studies are necessary to understand this new phenomenon.</p>

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Looksmaxxing: An Emerging Facial Aesthetic Culture

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年3月26日

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  • Aina Muntaner Vives,
  • Marianna Ostrerova,
  • Nitzan Kenig

摘要

Looksmaxxing, also termed looksmaxing or looksmaxx, refers to a set of practices aimed at maximizing physical attractiveness through behavioral, cosmetic, medical, and sometimes surgery or even extreme physical interventions. Seemingly originating in male-oriented internet forums in the 2010s, the concept has since migrated into mainstream social media, particularly TikTok, where it is framed as a strategy to “level up” appearance. This review synthesizes emerging academic papers in PubMed and gray literature on looksmaxxing, categorizing common practices, examining psychological and ethical implications, and identifying gaps and relationship to Otolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery and facial aesthetics. The study manifests the scarcity of quality research on the matter. Sources clustered into softmaxxing (low-risk lifestyle practices with limited evidence), hardmaxxing (medical or surgical interventions for permanent change), and extreme or harmful practices such as “bonesmashing” (high-risk or misinformed behaviors). Across all categories, recurrent psychosocial themes included body dissatisfaction, appearance-based social comparison, male-focused appearance anxiety, and traits overlapping with body dysmorphic disorder. Looksmaxxing is an upcoming social media-based aesthetic culture trend. When performed unsupervised in its extreme form, surgeons should be advised that it can lead to physical facial harm and psychological distress, while its mild forms appear to be related to facial care and a healthy lifestyle. Very limited scientific evidence is currently available, and more studies are necessary to understand this new phenomenon.