---
title: "Doctors Say Selfies Are Pushing More Teens to Get Plastic Surgery"
description: "Young people are getting plastic surgery in the hopes of looking more like the heavily filtered photos of themselves they share on social media."
date: "2019-06-19"
modified: "2019-06-21"
authors:
  - name: "Kristin Houser"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/kristin"
url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/selfies-pushing-teens-plastic-surgery"
categories:
  - "Health & Medicine"
tags:
  - "plastic surgery"
  - "snapchat dysmorphia"
  - "social media"
  - "the digest"
---

# Doctors Say Selfies Are Pushing More Teens to Get Plastic Surgery

![Young people are getting plastic surgery in the hopes of looking more like the heavily filtered photos of themselves they share on social media.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/selfies-pushing-teens-plastic-surgery.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Kylie Jenner/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Snapchat Dysmorphia

In 2018, researchers [coined the term](<https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamafacialplasticsurgery/fullarticle/2688763>) "Snapchat dysmorphia" to describe the phenomenon of clients undergoing surgical procedures to look more like themselves — or, at least, the heavily [filtered versions](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/gender-swap-filter-fools-cop>) of themselves they'd often share on social media.

Now, a *South China Morning Post* [story](<https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/fashion-beauty/article/3014543/how-snapchat-dysmorphia-drives-teens-plastic-surgery-copy>) details how Snapchat dysmorphia and social media in general are driving more teens and young people to go under the knife — sometimes in pursuit of downright impossible results.

## Selfie Obsessed

According to psychotherapist Jamie Chiu, today's social media-driven focus on appearance is wreaking havoc on the psyches of young people.

"There is no doubt that it does hurt your self-esteem to grow up in this social-media-obsessed environment," Chiu told *SCMP*, later adding that "filters in particular are leading to a dangerous trend where people feel insecure about not being as beautiful as their own filtered selves."

## #NoFilter

In an attempt to bridge that gap, more young people are visiting plastic surgery clinics — in China, half of all plastic surgery clients are younger than 28, and in Western Europe, the average age dropped by five years in 2018, according to *SCMP's* reporting — but sometimes, the visit is for naught.

“Some patients will come with a photograph of an edited version of themselves and ask to look like that," plastic surgeon Julian De Silva told *SCMP*, "but so much of what they want, such as moving the position of the eyes, is impossible anywhere but on an app."

**READ MORE**: [How Snapchat dysmorphia drives teens to plastic surgery to copy looks phone camera filters give them](<https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/fashion-beauty/article/3014543/how-snapchat-dysmorphia-drives-teens-plastic-surgery-copy>) \[*South China Morning Post*\]

**More on social media filters:** *[Gender-Swap Filter Fools Cop Who Tried to Prey on Underage Girl](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/gender-swap-filter-fools-cop>)*

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinjhouser>)