The Dark Side of Looksmaxxing: Steroids, Bone Smashing, and the Pursuit of Perfection

What began as a niche internet movement has evolved into one of social media's fastest-growing beauty trends. Known as Looksmaxxing, the movement encourages men to maximize their physical appearance through everything from fitness and skincare to cosmetic procedures and, in its most extreme form, risky body modifications. While millions follow the trend online, medical experts warn that its darker side is leaving some participants with permanent injuries and serious psychological consequences.

Photo: commons.wikimedia.org by Agasi nazareno, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

A muscular man

From Gaming Forums to a Global Beauty Movement

Looksmaxxing emerged on online gaming forums during the 2010s, where users created the so-called PSL scale—short for Perfection, Symmetry, and Looks—to rate facial attractiveness. The scale attempts to assign numerical scores to beauty, placing most people into an average category while ranking celebrities according to perceived facial symmetry and proportions.

Followers classify celebrities such as Justin Bieber, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Zendaya as highly attractive, while figures including Margot Robbie, Angelina Jolie, Megan Fox, and model Jordan Barrett are frequently cited as examples of near-perfect facial aesthetics.

Supporters generally distinguish between two approaches. Softmaxxing focuses on healthy habits such as exercise, skincare, nutrition, improved grooming, and fashion. Hardmaxxing, however, embraces far more extreme methods, including cosmetic surgery, Botox, anabolic steroids, and controversial practices such as "bonesmashing."

Brayden Peters Became the Face of the Movement

Twenty-year-old American influencer Brayden Peters has become one of the movement's most recognizable figures. Often described online as one of the world's most attractive men because of his dramatic physical transformation, Peters recently appeared on the cover of Miami New Times, where he discussed his lifestyle and growing influence.

Through his livestreams and social media platforms, Peters encourages followers not only to work out and improve their grooming but also to pursue cosmetic treatments, plastic surgery, steroid use, and facial self-massage techniques using household objects.

One of his most controversial recommendations relies on an unproven interpretation of Wolff's Law—the theory that bone adapts to mechanical stress. Peters argues that repeatedly striking facial bones can reshape the jawline, drawing comparisons to boxers whose knuckles become denser after years of training. Medical evidence does not support using this principle to intentionally alter facial structure.

The influencer's personal life has also attracted controversy. He was arrested earlier this year on assault allegations before later being released. Weeks afterward, Peters suffered a drug overdose during a livestream while sitting in a bar with friends. The broadcast showed him becoming unresponsive before the stream abruptly ended. Doctors later stabilized his condition, and Peters subsequently announced that he had been discharged from the hospital.

Doctors Warn About Growing Health Risks

Plastic surgeons say the movement increasingly promotes procedures that carry significant medical risks, particularly when performed without professional supervision.

Among the most concerning trends are injections of lipolytic compounds designed to dissolve fat. According to specialists, accidental injection into a blood vessel can block circulation, destroy skin tissue, cause severe ulcers, and leave permanent scarring.

Physicians also warn that damage to facial nerves may result in chronic pain, facial paralysis, or lasting asymmetry.

Another popular shortcut involves anabolic steroids, which some followers use to accelerate muscle growth. While steroids may produce rapid physical changes, doctors caution that long-term use can disrupt hormone production, reduce fertility, trigger severe acne, and accelerate hair loss.

Cosmetic specialists have also expressed concern about people purchasing PDO lifting threads online and attempting facial contouring at home. Improper placement can lead to infections, skin dimpling, visible threads beneath the skin, inflammation, and distorted facial contours.

Excessive tightening of facial tissues may even prevent the eyelids from closing completely, resulting in chronic dry eyes and potential vision problems.

The Viral 'Bonesmashing' Trend

Perhaps the most alarming trend within Looksmaxxing is bonesmashing, in which participants repeatedly strike their facial bones with hard objects in the belief that new bone growth will improve facial structure.

Medical experts have repeatedly warned that the practice can produce the exact opposite effect. Instead of creating a stronger jawline, repeated trauma may cause facial asymmetry, fractures, nerve damage, vascular injuries, chronic pain, and permanent disfigurement.

Growing concern has prompted physicians to publish warnings in medical journals highlighting the dangers of the practice and urging young people to avoid attempting it.

When Beauty Becomes a Numbers Game

Experts believe Looksmaxxing reflects a broader cultural obsession with quantifying success. Just as audiences compare streaming statistics, box office revenue, and auction prices, many social media users now attempt to measure beauty through numerical ratings and facial proportions.

Critics argue that reducing appearance to mathematical formulas encourages unhealthy perfectionism while ignoring personality, individuality, and emotional well-being.

As New York University professor Ruby Justice Thelot observed, followers of Looksmaxxing increasingly treat the face like the polished storefront of an empty shop—carefully optimized through measurements, metrics, and data, while overlooking the deeper qualities that make people genuinely attractive.