A GENERATION of women is growing up viewing cosmetic surgery and “tweakments” as just like getting their hair done.
New figures reveal plastic surgery procedures more than doubled in Britain last year, with 93 per cent of them — 28,769 — being carried out on women as thousands are desperate to get the plumped-up Love Island look or emulate stars such as Kim Kardashian.
The rise is the biggest since records began almost two decades ago, the annual report by the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons reveals.
Some of Britain’s leading plastic surgeons have blasted colleagues for “losing the plot” when it comes to giving treatments to under-30s trying to recreate Instagram filters.
One said: “Young women watch programmes like Love Island and think, ‘I don’t look right’ because they’re maybe not as glamorous and it can lead to serious mental health issues.
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“This type of show can build up body dysmorphia.”
One surgeon has warned The Sun that Britain risks becoming the “laughing stock of the world”, while a former star of the ITV2 show told of the grim reality of chasing the “perfect” reality star image.
There is also a growing trend that many who do get fillers are having them reversed — including Islanders themselves.
The new figures come as no surprise to top cosmetic surgeon Dr Nyla Raja, who has treated Abbey Clancy and Mel B.
‘Worst decision ever’
She said she has noticed a pattern where demands for consultations spike between 9pm and 11pm each night, which could tally with an ad break as they watch their favourite reality TV show or after scrolling through social media.
Dr Raja says: “If I see patients requesting procedures they don’t need, or altering their natural beauty to look like what they see on social media or TV, it’s heartbreaking.”
One devotee of the Love Island look was Sharon Gaffka, who appeared on the show two years ago.
The 27-year-old, who first had lip fillers in 2018, confessed: “If I had my time again I wouldn’t have anything done on my face.
“I had the fillers because I thought my lips were too narrow for my face.
“I have quite a round face and at the time I didn’t see many Asian faces on TV or on social media who looked like me.
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“I looked at actresses who were white and considered beautiful and decided I wanted to look like them.”
Last year the British College of Aesthetic Medicine performed 282,960 filler procedures — a rise of 100 per cent on the previous 12 months.
Around 900,000 Botox injections are carried out in clinics every year, you can even book in at High Street chemist Superdrug.
The industry is worth £9.3billion in the UK.
Figures from analytics experts Statistica reveal that in 2021, 15,000 cosmetic surgeries were performed in Britain.
More than half were boob jobs. This week’s new stats reveal that — alongside breast augmentation — nose jobs, eyelid surgery and face and neck lifts are among the most popular procedures among women.
Brow lifts have seen the biggest increase, with a 140 per cent rise.
Among MEN, there is a whopping 310 per cent increase.
The procedure, which costs around £5,000 and involves cutting tissue from the top of the face to raise eyebrows for the “fox eye” look said to be popular with models including supermodels Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid.
Nicole Kay, 20, spent hundreds trying to emulate her idol Kylie Jenner.
At 14 she used heavy lipliner and social media filters to boost her pout then immediately booked fillers when she was 18. It wasn’t long before she was hooked.
Nicole, from Cramlington, Northumberland, has had 8ml of filler injected into her lips over the past two years.
She says: “I was getting a millilitre injected every month until the clinic told me to slow down.
“I’d always hated my thin lips and social media didn’t help because I was constantly seeing influencers and celebrities with big lips, especially Kylie Jenner.
“Even now I still use filters to make them look even bigger.”
In a landmark intervention this year, the country’s top plastic surgeons warned that young people were “losing the plot” and blasted colleagues for fuelling the trend.
Last summer’s Love Islanders were open about having work done before the show.
Ekin-Su Culculoglu, 28, revealed she spent £4,000 on veneers and had a boob job and £1,200 worth of fillers.
In the latest series it emerged that Anna-May Robey, 20, told her parents she was going to the gym when she was having a boob job.
Mum-of-one Chloe Godland spent £500 to get the perfect Love Island pout, regretting it when her lips became swollen and infected.
The 29-year-old, from Melton Mowbray, Leics, had worked extra shifts as a nightclub manager to afford the treatment in March 2021 — but says it was the “worst decision she’s ever made”.
She says: “I am a huge Love Island fan and wanted ‘the look’. Lip filler was in my price range so I had 3mls over six months.
“After I had the second injection my lips became sore, and within 24 hours they’d turned lumpy and hard.
“Two days later I got an infection inside my bottom lip and couldn’t eat properly for a week.”
She now plans to have her filler dissolved.
She admits: “When my little girl was born in April last year I became even more convinced that my Love Island lips were the worst decision I’d ever made.
“I don’t want her growing up thinking a Love Island face or body is the only appearance that’s acceptable. I felt ashamed.”
Tellingly, as young fans are blown away by the gym-honed bodies and sculpted faces, a flock of ex-Islanders are reversing their work.
In the past year Molly-Mae Hague, Faye Winter and Sharon Gaffka have had their lip fillers dissolved.
Recent Winter series contestant Jessie Wynter, 26, told New Idea mag: “I honestly wish I could go back and tell younger me, ‘Dude, don’t get a boob job, you’re fine the way you are’.”
Sharon explains she had a stressful job as a civil servant when she got her lip filler, but is in a “much better place now”.
She says: “I realised that, when I looked in the mirror, I wasn’t being entirely honest about who I was.
“I now feel happier and healthier than I’ve ever been.
“I know it’s tough being a teenager or a young woman, seeing all these hyper glam images on social media and TV, but I don’t think I’d have lip fillers again.”
Sharon was left shocked when she had her lip filler dissolved and discovered there was still filler there from three years earlier.
She says: “My doctor suggested we put dissolving fluid in my chin just in case and I was amazed to find out I still had some fillers in my face which I thought were already gone.”
Dr Osman Bashir, who runs a London clinic, reckons around 20 per cent of clients are now asking him to reduce or remove their filler.
But with more young people than ever still demanding procedures, fears over their physical and mental safety remain.
Antonia Mariconda, founder of the Safety in Beauty campaign group, said: “The dominant Kardashian-type trends appeal to those as young as 14.
“It’s illegal for clinics to carry out procedures under 18 but many are having it done under the radar.
“While the medical profession has accountability, there’s nothing stopping unscrupulous people from doing this in their homes.
“It’s not uncommon to see botched procedures in teens who have used fake IDs.
“I won’t do any work unless someone provides real proof of age such as a driving licence or passport.”
