Maybe We're Being A Bit Too Hard On Selfies...

Selfies are taking the blame for a rise in cosmetic surgeries - but at least one expert disagrees

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Published In Features
Selfies being blamed for plastic surgery rise
Selfies being blamed for plastic surgery rise
(Image credit: Lupita Nyong'o)

Selfies are taking the blame for a rise in cosmetic surgeries - but at least one expert disagrees

Selfies are getting a bad rap.

A new report surfaced this week that says selfies are to blame for the recent surge in cosmetic surgery - both in the US and Britain.

There's been a recent rise in plastic surgery procedures for young people in their teens and 20s, and some surgeons say the prevelance of mobile phone pictures is escalating their patients' insecurities and causing them to feel intense pressure to look perfect.

Cara Delevingne Suki Waterhouse selfies

Cara Delevingne Suki Waterhouse selfies
(Image credit: Rex)

‘Very often, selfies are not representative of the real person,' said Marc Pacifico, of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons. ‘Younger people often make themselves look better by taking out blemishes, so you’ve got this huge pressure on other young people to conform to some sort of ideal image.’

There's no arguing that selfies are on the upswing. It's estimated that the British public shares 1.4 million selfies every day. And that Oscars selfie was retweeted more than 2 million times.

Selfies being blamed for plastic surgery rise

Selfies being blamed for plastic surgery rise
(Image credit: Ellen DeGeneres)

But maybe the selfie doesn't deserve all this negative publicity. After all, isn't it just the easiest way to snap a picture when no one is around to take it for you? Can something condoned by Ellen DeGeneres and Lupita Nyong'o really be dangerous?

'It seems that even Obama and Cameron are into selfies,' says Professor Laurence Kirwan, who has clinics in London, New York and Connecticut. 'I am not sure if there is a correlation between selfies and cosmetic surgery. It is all conjecture.

'I think that plastic surgery continues to rise as an inevitable part of our culture and its availability. That is the new norm. I doubt it had any specific relationship to smartphones.'

What do you think? Does seeing your news feed fill up with bathroom mirror snaps and close-up duck faces make you desperate for a nose job? Or are the two entirely unrelated?

Let us know in the comments.

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Ali Gray
Ali Gray is an award-winning content director and digital strategist. Most recently she was the Director of Branded Content at Hearst, and helped to bridge the gap between the editorial and commercial worlds working across all Hearst brands, including ELLE, Cosmopolitan, Esquire and Harper's Bazaar. Prior to that she worked as an editor contributing to several brands such as The Telegraph, iVillage UK.