Plastic Surgeons Are Doing ‘Facebook Facelifts’

Doctors say Facebook and video-chatting tools like Skype and FaceTime have partly fueled this decade’s boom in plastic surgery.

“People will come in and say, ‘I saw myself in the mirror, but I didn’t really notice it until I saw myself on Facebook or on my iPhone or iPad,’” says Dr. Adam Schaffner, a New York plastic surgeon. “When you look in the mirror you’re seeing the mirror image of yourself. But when you see yourself on social media, you’re seeing yourself the way the world sees you.”

This new, social-media-derived vanity is driving plastic surgeons to cater to the growing market. Schaffner performs a surgery called the “Lifestyle Lift,” a minimally invasive procedure to tighten up the face.

One doctor in Virginia is even offering what is being called a “FaceTime Facelift,” a procedure designed to make people appear more attractive during FaceTime conversations.

And the prevalence of tools like Photoshop aren’t helping. By making everyone else look more attractive, image editing tools make you feel less so when you view yourself in your natural state.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, gbrundin

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