Once upon a time, hopefully people would bring in photos of celebrities to their plastic surgeons, showing them what they wanted to look like.

In recent years however, this is becoming less and less common. Patients are more likely to show their surgeons selfies of themselves that they took using apps such as Snapchat. In fact, this has become an actual psychological phenomenon that is being referred to as ‘Snapchat dysmorphia’.

It means that patients are seeking out surgery to appear just like the filtered versions of themselves.  Snapchat not only lets users add dog ears and unicorn ears to their faces, but also offers a wide selection of filters than can make your face appear smaller, can smooth out your skin and can even change your eye color.

Back in the day, this type of technology was expensive and was available for celebrities featured on the covers of magazines. These days, all you really need is a smartphone.

The term ‘Snapchat dysmorphia’ comes from body dysmorphic disorder. People with BDD are obsessed with their perceived physical flaws, although these so called flaws are often not even noticeable by others.

Social media appears to be the main cause of people increasingly suffering from such issues.  People chose to go under the knife to look better in selfies.  Such apps create a new standard of beauty that simply isn’t not realistic.