When people go to a facial aesthetics clinic, the process is completely focused on their goals, what is realistic and the motivations behind wanting a particular treatment, and ensuring it is the right outcome for them.

This is the best way to undergo any form of aesthetic treatment, and whilst most professionals have agreed on this best practice for the longest time, the wider public conversation and consensus arguably started as a result of one of the most controversial television shows ever aired.

Airing between 2004 and 2005 during one of the most extreme periods for reality television, The Swan was a plastic surgery-themed television show that attempted to combine Extreme Makeover or Ten Years Younger with a talent show such as The X Factor.

Each week, two women who gave themselves the insulting moniker of “ugly ducking” would spend three months receiving an intensive makeover from a team of personal trainers, cosmetic surgeons, dentists and therapists whilst being banned from looking at a mirror.

At the end, their new face was revealed to them in front of a studio audience and whichever received the most votes for their transformation would compete in a beauty pageant competition.

Whilst other television shows about cosmetic surgery had aired before this, none had received the level of criticism and controversy as The Swan, both immediately at the time and several years later, often being labelled as the worst reality television show in history.

It received particular controversy for a moment where a contestant’s husband was manipulated into saying she looked average, something he claims he never said and something that unfortunately led to their later divorce.

The controversy and aftermath of the show was a watershed moment for cosmetic treatment, with a much greater focus on a person’s goals and allowing people to define for themselves who they want to be and how they want to look, rather than relying on a very narrow set of standards.