Konig et al. (2025) — Looksmaxxing: Straddling the Inflection Between Self-Enhancement and Self-Harm
Konig, D.J., Sidhu, A.S. & Corpuz, G.S. (2025). Looksmaxxing: Straddling the Inflection Between Self-Enhancement and Self-Harm. SAGE Open Medicine, 13. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/26893614251409793
What this source contributes
The first clinically oriented analysis of looksmaxxing as a phenomenon sitting on the boundary between self-improvement and self-harm. The authors separate “soft” looksmaxxing (skincare, fitness, grooming) from “hard” looksmaxxing (surgical intervention, bone smashing), and document the connection to body dysmorphic disorder along with the role platforms play in amplifying the more extreme end.
The clinical framing matters because it refuses the two easy readings at once. Looksmaxxing is not dismissed as harmless self-care, and it is not treated as pathology by definition. The article locates the point at which one becomes the other.
Analytical function in Looksmaxxing
The strongest empirical source for the clinical dimension of the entry, and the only one whose direct and sole object is looksmaxxing itself. Supplies the soft/hard distinction the entry uses to describe escalation.
Related entries
- Looksmaxxing — direct and sole focus of the article
- Body Dysmorphic Disorder — clinical connection: rising BDD presentations in men associated with looksmaxxing content
- Comparison Culture — mechanism: constant upward comparison against algorithmically optimised faces