Taking a selfie at a distance of 12 inches from your face increases the size of your nose by 30%.
According to a study published in JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery, selfies distort the nose by 30% in width in men and 29% in women.
However pictures taken 5 feet away do not distort the nose.
Study author Dr. Boris Paskover, facial plastic surgeon at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, stated, “At 5 feet, the distance between your nose and the camera and the distance between your facial plane and the camera is almost the same.”
He and his colleagues are finding a huge increase in people requesting plastic surgery to improve their look in selfies.
But if the image taken provides a distorted view, thousands of people may be having unnecessary operations.
According to the American College of Plastic Surgeons, reported by USA Today, minimally invasive cosmetic procedures have increased 200% since 2000 and are rising each year. They find the top 5 cosmetic surgeries in 2017 were:
- Breast Augmentation (300,378 procedures)
- Liposuction (246,354 procedures)
- Nose Reshaping (218,924 procedures)
- Eyelid Surgery (209,571 procedures)
- Tummy Tuck (129,753 procedures)
And the most common minimally invasive cosmetic procedures were:
- Botulinum Toxin Type A (7.23 million procedures)
- Soft Tissue Fillers (2.69 million procedures)
- Chemical Peel (1.37 million procedures)
- Laser Hair Removal (1.1 million procedures)
- Microdermabrasion (740,287 procedures)
Selfies may share part of the blame in our obesity crisis
This week BBC news reported millennials to be on track to be the most overweight generation since records began. Millennials have popularized the selfie on social media and are the most tech savvy when it comes to marketing themselves online. The rest of us are catching up. And our exceptional skills at taking great selfies may unwittingly de-expose us to the truths of our appearance. If we look at our computers more than we look at a mirror, we won’t see the enlarging waist line, large butt, full face or love handles. We think “we’re good” rather than being reminded of our figure’s shortcomings. Complacency leads to laziness and letting one healthy meal or workout slide could lead to down-spiral of our weight maintenance.
Selfies have overtaken how see ourselves, attract dates, entertain others, and communicate with our friends. They’re not going away anytime soon and in fact leading to an epidemic of selfitis. And if we’re not careful we’ll see an epidemic of unneeded plastic surgery as well.
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Daliah Wachs is a guest contributor to GCN news. Doctor Wachs is an MD, FAAFP and a Board Certified Family Physician. The Dr. Daliah Show , is nationally syndicated M-F from 11:00 am - 2:00 pm and Saturday from Noon-1:00 pm (all central times) at GCN.