Barry Keoghan's XERF video is real pain, packaged as an ad

What happens when the cure for being bullied about your face arrives as a sponsored-looking Instagram Reel? We get Barry Keoghan on a treatment bed, murmuring that it's all "very relaxing and therapeutic," while the internet argues about whether he's a victim, a client or a billboard. Our answer: a bit of each, and the third one deserves more attention than it's getting.

The timing made it a story, and the price tags muddy it

On October 23, celebrity facialist Nilam Holmes posted a video of the 34-year-old actor getting his second XERF session at her Dermaspa clinic, according to IBTimes. XERF is a needle-free radiofrequency skin-tightening treatment. In the clip, Keoghan says: "I feel better about myself. I look better. I think it's important to look after yourself inside and outside."

In a March 20 SiriusXM interview, he had said there was "a lot of abuse of how I look" online and that it had made him avoid going out. Prices reported for the treatment vary a lot between outlets. The Irish Examiner cites £2,500 for a full-face session on Dermaspa's website, while other outlets give higher dollar or two-session totals. We wouldn't trust any single headline number.

The pressure is real, and nobody should pretend otherwise

Start with the fair part. A man who says he was "hiding away" and worried the abuse was leaking into his acting is not performing a bit. We have no reason to doubt him, and the internet's reaction proves his point: a stream of posts either mourns his "unique" face or dissects it like public property. That's the same machine that hurt him, now chewing on his response.

Also worth noting: neither Keoghan nor Holmes has linked the treatment to the abuse, as IBTimes points out. The "months after he called out trolls" framing is the press's, not theirs. Headlines stitched two events into a redemption arc because it clicks better. Cosmetic care is not automatically a confession of defeat, and we think he's entitled to a facial without it being read as a verdict on his self-worth.

But a facialist's reel about a product still works as an ad

Here's where the sympathy stops covering the facts. Holmes wrote that she was running late filming XERF content, so Keoghan offered to be filmed instead. That's a charming origin story, and it's also a description of a clip made in the middle of producing promotional material for a treatment her clinic offers. Pajiba put it bluntly: the video isn't marked as sponsored content, "but it does play like it." We agree with the second half of that sentence. We have no documentation that Keoghan was paid, and we won't suggest it. Whether he was or not, the clinic and the device probably get the benefit.

That's the real mechanism worth looking at. The pipeline goes: a public figure is picked apart for his looks, he says it hurts, and later a vulnerable-sounding line ("I feel better about myself") rides on a clip that showcases an expensive procedure. Insecurity is the raw material, and no one in the chain has to say it out loud. Nobody needs to lie for this to work. The emotional language does the selling.

And the line he used is the clever bit. "Look after yourself inside and outside" is wellness copy that could sit under any aesthetic treatment on the market. It reframes tightening skin as self-care, which makes questioning it feel mean. That's good branding, whether or not anyone intended it.

Our verdict

Treat this as two stories that happen to share a face. One is a person dealing with cruelty, and he deserves decency, not a think piece about his cheekbones. The other, in our view, looks like a clinic benefiting from a famous client's goodwill to showcase a pricey, non-invasive procedure. The FDA clearance for the device is dated August 11, 2025, according to IBTimes, citing the agency's database, but as the same report cautions, clearance doesn't promise identical results for everyone.

So what should readers do? Be kind to Keoghan, skeptical of the caption, and wary of any "feel better about yourself" message that comes with a price list attached. The abuse is the real problem. The reel is just very good at looking like the solution.