Selfie Craze Causes More People To Get Lip Surgeries & It's Out Of Control
Has the selfie obsession taken a dangerous turn?
When you scroll through your Instagram feed, chances are most of the 'grams are selfies.
Whether it's a Kardashian or your best friend's cousin, these selfies seem to be flawless in the way their hair falls and the light glows on their skin to make their lips look extra luscious...because your selfies are more about your double chin and last night's makeup. But do you ever stop to think that these pictures—and faces—on your feed aren't even natural?
The scary truth is that more and more men and women are plumping their lips than ever before during the height of the selfie craze. Take Kylie Jenner for instance. The youngest Kardashian/Jenner, who is perhaps the biggest trendsetter, was just 17 years old when she publicly got lip fillers. Even though she denied them at first, she's now been very open about her surgery and even has a lip kit that creates a plumping effect.
People are going under the knife more than ever before, and all just to get that perfect selfie. Which is actually downright messed up, if you think about it.
Selfies are the main reason people have been getting lip augmentations, and it's become the second-fastest growing facial procedure in the U.S.
According to data from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, doctors have noted that the main reason people—men and women both—are undergoing the knife is for selfies. The procedure was done on 27,449 people in 2015... that's a pair of lips plumped up every 19 minutes. Yikes.
"We live in the age of the selfie, and because we see images of ourselves almost constantly on social media, we're much more aware of how our lips look," David Song, MD and president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, says ."The good thing about lip procedures is that you have several options. You can change the shape of your lips as subtly as you want."
Along with lip implants, lip injections continue to show staggering growth as well.
People are receiving Botox and Dysport injections, as well as a variety of soft tissue fillers.
Lip implants, on the other hand, are more permanent as they are made from soft, flexible silicone.
Plastic surgeon Robert Houser says that "lips are an easy place for people to start" before people venture into other surgeries.
"If a patient doesn't like the injections, it's fine, because within a few months they wear off and everything is back to normal," he says. "But if they do like what injections do for their lips, they have to keep coming back every few months to maintain them."
Buuuut let's not forget that lip injections don't always go as planned. Remember when Farrah Abraham famously botched her lips and showed us in these painful selfies?
Lisa Rinna has also had lip injections go wrong, which she called "hard" and "yucky."
So whether you're thinking about lip implants just to make your selfie pout perfect, just remember to weigh the cost of what it'll be in the long run.
I'm no expert or anything but I bet your selfie game will still be just as strong, if not stronger, without lip enhancers.