'Snapchat Dysmorphia' causing young people to seek plastic surgery
(Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)
(FOX News) -- Snapchat and Instagram filters are changing the way young people look at themselves.
A new phenomenon of using filtered selfies as a guide for plastic surgeons is on the rise, and has been coined “Snapchat Dysmorphia” by Dr. Matthew Schulman, a board-certified plastic surgeon in New York City.
The filters – an effect that can transform the users facial features, typically by smoothing skin and enlarging eyes and lips – have been accused of making people forget what they truly look like.
“There’s an issue with losing perspective on what you actually look like, and it’s not something we talk about much,” Renee Engeln, professor of psychology at Northwestern University, and author of Beauty Sick: How the Cultural Obsession with Appearance Hurts Girls and Women, said to the Huffington Post.