January 15, 2014
Plastic Surgery Via Your iPhone
It seems you can do anything with an iPhone these days with the hundreds of thousands of apps in the app store. Around 200 of those apps are over 200 free body and face morphing apps. They aren't "hey this is what you can look like after serious diet and exercise" apps. The apps are designed so that users can perform surgical procedures and view the end results. Some even have a feature to allow users to share the photos so that others can comment on the before and after shots.
It only takes a couple clicks or touches on the screen to apply the morphing tools to change faces and bodies. Dr Paul Harris of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons spoke out about the proclivity of these morphing apps to the press and said that the apps are giving rise to an insatiable appetite for surgery and they give rise to the belief that the changes on a screen are easily replicated by surgical procedures. Dr Harris went on to say that, ‘It trivialises the impact and significance of surgery, which is life changing and permanent.’
Research into the use of these apps has found that many of the users are young people who are using the technology for fun rather than actually thinking about surgery and many are facing pressure to have the procedures done. With the global plastic surgery market worth around $13 billion annually its easy to see why clinics and doctors would want to promote these smartphone apps.
Worryingly is the trend in the rise in young people using the morphing applications and posting altered photos of themselves. In an increasingly image conscious society it is simply not healthy for young people to have access to such technology where the underlying theme is, "You're not beautiful, let us make you beautiful. See here's what you would look like."
It only takes a couple clicks or touches on the screen to apply the morphing tools to change faces and bodies. Dr Paul Harris of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons spoke out about the proclivity of these morphing apps to the press and said that the apps are giving rise to an insatiable appetite for surgery and they give rise to the belief that the changes on a screen are easily replicated by surgical procedures. Dr Harris went on to say that, ‘It trivialises the impact and significance of surgery, which is life changing and permanent.’
Research into the use of these apps has found that many of the users are young people who are using the technology for fun rather than actually thinking about surgery and many are facing pressure to have the procedures done. With the global plastic surgery market worth around $13 billion annually its easy to see why clinics and doctors would want to promote these smartphone apps.
Worryingly is the trend in the rise in young people using the morphing applications and posting altered photos of themselves. In an increasingly image conscious society it is simply not healthy for young people to have access to such technology where the underlying theme is, "You're not beautiful, let us make you beautiful. See here's what you would look like."