Increasingly, more and more people are turning to surgery to remove excess fat from their chins. The age of the selfie has brought about new concerns over ‘double chins’ and has perpetuated worries over achieving the perfect angle for photos. The new anxiety disorder has been dubbed ‘digital dysmorphia’ (an extension of body dysmorphia) and it seems that this is having a profound effect on people’s self-confidence online.
The social media craze of the ‘selfie’ has been linked to a dramatic rise in chin surgery, according to British Association of Aesthetics and Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) figures. Their statistics show that there has been a sixteen percent rise in the number of people opting for face, chin and neck lifts in 2015 alone. A BAAPS spokesperson was quoted in the Daily Mail, expressing their views over the growing trend, “The smartphone distorts your image and so people have a warped view of how they look. Procedures on necks and chins are a part of this.’
Digital dysmorphia is a condition that causes increased negative feelings about a person’s self-image and causes anxiety over what others are thinking about an individual’s photographs. People with the disorder may go to great lengths to capture the ‘perfect shot’ and this may mean going to drastic measures, such as going under the knife, to achieve what they see as perfection.