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How do selfies affect nose surgeries?

By Mihail Nikolov

Published: Mar 02, 2018, 9:40 AM

On the left is the selfie-enlarged nose and on the right – the regular one

You might've already experienced the following situation – you've just taken a selfie, probably your best one in a while. You open the gallery to see your glorious face in full-scale, before posting it to the social media. But then it hits you – your awesomeness it is, of course, but also that big, XXL-sized nose. Calm down though, as your nose is absolutely fine and gorgeous. The problem comes from the front-facing camera.

A study shows, that when we take a selfie, the wider lens of the camera and the distance combined may increase our nose size significantly – up to 30%, considering the selfie is taken from the avergae 12-inch mark (30 cm.). The study, conveniently named "Nasal Distortion in Short-Distance Photographs: The Selfie Effect", explains in detail how exactly the mentioned factors enlarge your nose, even including a schematic of the process.

And from here on it should be pretty obvious how rhinoplasty (a surgical intervention focused on the nose) ties into the situation – users, who've experienced the nasal distortion effect have contributed to an increased amount of nose jobs. Don't do it – your nose is as normal as a nose can be, and what you've taken using the front camera doesn't mean absolutely anything for your looks. "Young adults are constantly taking selfies to post to social media and think those images are representative of how they really look, which can have an impact on their emotional state [...] I want them to realize that when they take a selfie they are in essence looking into a portable funhouse mirror", said Boris Paskhover, one of the study's co-authors, who also happens to be a neck and head surgeon.

You may not think this is a big deal, but data tells otherwise: 55% of facial plastic surgeries in 2017 occurred, because patients wanted "to look better in selfies". This percentage was 42 in 2016, which is even more evidence for the bad trend.

source: Jama Network, via CNet

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