Selfie-love: report suggests filtered selfies directly linked to spike in body dysmorphia

Highsnobiety online magazine has suggested that young people are having surgery to look like the filtered selfie version of themselves. 

In a new article from the Journal of the American Medical Association titled “Selfies-Living in the Era of Filtered Photographs,” the report focuses on “Snapchat dysmorphia,” a type of body dysmorphia, a condition with excessive preoccupation with a perceived flaw in appearance, classified on the obsessive-compulsive spectrum.

According to the article, a recent study analyzed the effect of edited selfies on body dissatisfaction among adolescent girls and found that those who tweaked their photos much more using social media apps like Snapchat and Facetune, reported a higher level of concern with their bodies, and an overestimation of body shape and weight. The study also explains “that those with a dysmorphic body image may seek out social media as a means of validating their attractiveness.”

Dr. Neelam Vashi, director of the Boston University Center for Ethnic Skin, and one of the authors of the JAMA piece, said that the new phenomenon, dubbed “Snapchat dysmorphia,” has patients seeking out cosmetic surgery to look like filtered versions of themselves with fuller lips, bigger eyes, or a thinner nose. It has become an alarming trend because those filtered selfies “are blurring the line of reality and fantasy for these patients.”

The report also suggests that filtered selfies can have harmful effects on adolescents or those with BDD because these groups may more severely internalize this beauty standard.

For more, read the full story on the Journal of the American Medical Association.