The goal of looking like an actress or singer is a thing of the past. Today, people who approach surgeons for a consultation want something different, and equally disturbing: look like their selfies. In other words, they want to achieve an appearance similar to the one they have in their digital versions, "optimized" with filters and other retouching. Experts have named this phenomenon "Snapchat Dysmorphia", and it carries an enormous risk for mental health.
Plastic surgery has succeeded in improving the quality of life for millions of patients with some physical alteration (whether natural or caused by an accident), demonstrating beyond any doubt the potential of its interventions. However, this potential tends to collapse once disproportionate expectations clash with reality. The concept of "addiction" to plastic surgeries is real, and those who suffer from it often stop when it's too late, with disastrous consequences. As if that weren't enough, a group of researchers in the Department of Dermatology at the Boston University School of Medicine published a text describing a new and disturbing trend: Snapchat Dysmorphia.
Snapchat Dysmorphia: The New "Fad" That Worries Surgeons
Basically, people seek plastic surgeons in an attempt to look more like their "ideal versions," that is, exactly as they appear in selfies after processing the images with various digital retouching filters. According to Neelam Vashi, a professor of dermatology at Boston University, one of the most concerning aspects is the desire for immediate results. Snapchat filters and other platforms remove freckles, pimples, and secondary facial details almost in real time, and patients want to see changes in a matter of days, or a week at most. Vashi admitted that it is not a realistic goal, and although it can improve a person's appearance, it needs more than a week to do so, and it will not be 100%.
Snapchat Dysmorphia is a variant of what is called Body Dysmorphic Disorder, an excessive concern about a real or imagined flaw in self-image that has serious effects, starting with anxiety, deep depressive states, social phobia, and even suicidal tendencies. Last year, a survey conducted by the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery revealed that 55 percent of surgeons received patients who requested surgeries to "look better in selfies." Unfortunately, the solutions are not simple. BDD requires a combination of therapy and medication, and both surgeons and psychologists recognize that the behavior of those suffering from Snapchat Dysmorphia will not change in the near future.
