Hair. Nails. Eyes. Skin. Teeth. Make no mistake: looking good takes time and effort. That’s why we devote countless hours to preening ourselves in front of the mirror: exfoliating, moisturising and concealing.

Striving to look beautiful is perfectly natural. For thousands of years, men and women have gone to great lengths to enhance their appearance, modifying every aspect of their bodies. In their unremitting quest to turn heads, however, some people can take beauty to extremes.

The definition of what constitutes ‘extreme beauty’ is very much open to interpretation. For celebrities, who are constantly in the public eye, an obsession with looking good at all times is understandable. Botox; fillers; vertiginous hair styles; questionable tattoos; daring dresses; there’s nothing celebs won’t do in their quest to garner headlines and wow their teen fan-base, But what about the teens themselves? Young women (and occasionally men) who feel pressured into emulating their idols, Few parents would balk at their teen wearing make-up or choosing their own outfits, even if they may not always agree with their child’s sense of fashion. But what if their daughter declared that she was contemplating breast enhancement or botox?

With reality programmes such as TOWIE making surgery seem as normal as going for a French polish, it’s no wonder that teens feel the pressure to conform. Wanting to look good is natural. Obsessing about it is not. As recent studies indicate, however, some teens are finding it hard to strike a balance.

While bulimia and self-harm are well-documented issues that can affect young women in particular, another worrying condition is body dysmorphic disorder (BDD). People who suffer from BDD become convinced that a part of their body has some sort of defect or is unattractive. A person with body dysmorphia may convince themselves that their face is ugly, and seek to mitigate this by applying excess make-up or wearing their hair over their face. BDD is thought to affect 1% of the UK population, with the condition usually becoming manifest in adolescence.

With spray-tanned, airbrushed, photoshopped celebs pouting at us from magazines, tablets and smartphones, it’s no wonder that teens feel compelled to conform. In most cases, this quest is unlikely to lead to dyslexia or BDD. Nevertheless, there has been much debate in the media about whether teens are being forced to grow up too fast. After all, shouldn’t youth be celebrated, rather than fast-tracked in a race to adulthood?

The Daily Mail is one media outlet that has taken flak for its attitude to teen beauty. As The Media Blog reports, ‘all grown up? is a phrase used regularly by the Mail to signpost photographs of young girls who might be close to the age of consent or alternatively former child starts who are now over 16.

The blog goes on to pinpoint numerous ‘all grown up’ Daily Mail headlines, a subtle yet insidious sign that children are being sexualised and described in adult terms while still of school age.

For a more extreme example, look to America, where beauty pageants see girls as young as six donning heavy make-up and striking poses that could be construed as sexual.

The truth is, there is no fixed age at which kids become adults. Growing up is a gradual process, one that should not be hastened by pushy parents, celeb behaviour or peer pressure.

In Western society, youth and beauty have always been worshipped. It is perfectly natural for teenagers to fixate on their appearance. Occupying bathrooms, agonising over outfits and gazing critically into the mirror are all part of that process.

Beauty, like youth, will fade eventually. While it’s in bloom, however, it should be celebrated. If only we were capable of letting teens be teens and leaving the grown up stuff to the grown ups.