Uptick in cosmetic surgeries linked to social media

New Delhi: There has been a sharp increase in the number of youngsters undergoing cosmetic surgeries just because they want to look better on social media platforms, doctors said.

About 40 percent of the youngsters choosing to undergo cosmetic surgeries in recent times cite their appearance in the pictures and videos on social media platforms as the reason for getting the treatment, said a statement issued by the doctors on Thursday.

"Social media platforms, which are primarily image-based, have been making youngsters hold a microscope to their own image and get more self-critical as to how they look on screen," said Vinod Vij, consultant cosmetic surgeon at city-based Fortis Hospitals.

In order to give themselves "an ace look", cosmetic surgery was the preferred treatment among people, he said.

According to the medical sciences, repeated cosmetic surgery is not skin friendly and can cause blisters, lupus, dermatitis and other infections.

Vij said youngsters believed that a perfect look on the social media would help them gain popularity in the glamour world, which explained their readiness to incur the expenditure and run the risk of complications associated with the treatment.

Mohan Thomas, senior cosmetic surgeon at Mumbai's Breach Candy Hospital, said, "The most popular corrections are nose job, chin implant, facelift and eyelid lift. Rapid weight loss among people leads to sagging chin and loss of cheek fats."

"The saggy skin can be uplifted with fillers. With the eye bag removal, a surgeon can remove the extra fatty tissues and excess skin which leads to a youthful skin," he said.

Since most of the surgical procedures can be performed in a day, the youngsters remain under the mistaken impression that they are always skin friendly, said the doctors.