We spent £1000s on surgery to look like social media filters – the Bratz look & tooth whitening apps got us hooked
IT has taken TikTok by storm since its release last month.
AI-powered Bold Glamour – the latest in a long line of camera filters – smooths imperfections, sculpts cheekbones and plumps lips to give a glossy makeover.
The filter has been viewed more than 400million times, though some social media users criticise it for making them feel “uglier” than ever.
And it is not the only filter designed to alter someone’s face, with Instagram and Snapchat using similar technology.
As a result, there is an increase in people trying to look like their filtered appearance in real life, a phenomenon dubbed “Snapchat dysmorphia”.
The annual number of cosmetic surgery procedures has more than doubled since 2000, says the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, with young people significant contributors to the rise.
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Dr Omar Tillo, plastic surgeon and medical director at , London, said: “People are seeking plastic surgery to achieve a look similar to the filtered version of themselves seen on social media.
“Some social media filters, such as Bold Glamour, are designed to enhance and glamorise the user’s appearance.
“While this filter may be fun to use, it is important to recognise it presents an idealised and unrealistic standard of beauty that may not be attainable for everyone.
“This may lead some users to feel dissatisfied with their appearance or feel pressure to conform to unrealistic beauty standards.”
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Yasmin Harisha speaks to three women who say filters fuelled their obsession with cosmetic surgery.
Monifa, 27, post-surgery
CLOAKROOM attendant has spent more than £65,000 on cosmetic surgery after being inspired by a filter that gave her doll-like features.
from Camberwell, South London, says:
"I started using filters when I was 18, when they first became popular. I was insecure growing up, and the filters didn’t help.
I especially loved the Bratz filter, and it inspired me to want the “doll” look.
I loved how it would tweak my lips, giving them a diamond-shape and making the top smaller and bottom bigger.
Knowing I could make that a reality influenced me to start surgery.
Whenever I would see my face without the filter, I would think, “Oh God, I need surgery”.
I would look at everything and think, “I need to go to a clinic now”.
Since 2018, I have been having cosmetic procedures done.
The filters these days have advanced so much more, and really enhance each feature.
I would say I don’t have feminine features and I am trying to soften it.
I have had my chin done, teeth, under-eyes, cheeks, and even a forehead reduction.
I flew to South Korea, Turkey and the Dominican Republic to get all of these different surgeries and spent a lot of money on them.
People used to use pictures of celebrities or other people to show their surgeons, but now you can use a filter so surgeons can give us a realistic look.
The filters also inspire me to change the way I do my make-up.
I now do a blusher look under my eyes to copy the filter.
And even after having surgery, when I use the filters now I still look and find parts of my face that I want to fix.
I am never going to stop until I look like an actual filter.
It is achievable, I think it is a work of art and it gives you a unique look.
I know filters are unrealistic, but personally I think it’s more realistic for me to achieve, compared to trying to look like a celebrity.
If there weren’t filters I would never have had the idea to get these tweakments.
With social media, a lot of people have filters and you look at pictures and wonder if it has a one or not.
Half of me likes them, and the other half doesn’t because it makes you feel really sad, as you look at them and want to look like that.
I fear that my surgery journey is always going to continue as long as these filters are here."
Costs
- Two Brazilian butt lifts, two thigh and two arm liposuction procedures: £9,000
- Rhinoplasty and forehead reduction: £8,850
- Four facial surgeries, including V-line surgery, revision rhinoplasty and fat removal in cheeks: £13,773
- Chin/jaw surgery: £2,600
- Five surgeries including canthoplasty – cat eyes – cheek lift, mini facelift and under-chin liposuction: £15,000
- Three surgeries including cheek lift, cat eyes, cheek fat removal: £8,000
- Hair transplant: £2,600
- Dental work: £3,300
- PDO face lift: £550
- Chin and lip filler: £560
- Nasolabial folds treatment: £150
- Under-eye filler: £180
- Profilho face injection (x2): £400
- Fat removal injections belly and waist (x2): £260
TOTAL: £65,223
Louanna, 30, post-surgery
LOUANNA JASMIN has spent more than £20,000 on procedures for a filtered version of herself.
The model, who is single and lives in Manchester says:
“I started my cosmetic journey after trying the numerous Instagram and TikTok filters – including editing apps like FaceApp – which give you enhanced and more filtered versions of your own features.
These gave me the idea that with slight adjustments here and there, I could slowly create the face I was seeing on these apps.
The filters make it seem so achievable.
I even went as far as getting 20 crowns and veneers costing £5,000, because there is a teeth-whitening filter I loved.
I started my cosmetic journey with a rhinoplasty nose job when I was 25, and I’ve been getting tweakments since then.
I always wanted a nose job but the filters confirmed it for me, and gave me the push to get it.
Using a filter, you think, “It’s only a minor tweak,” but then it becomes a domino effect.
You end up going to use the filter again after your procedure, and you spot something else you want to change.
Now the filters have become more realistic, so the changes to your face seem more achievable and normal. But it’s not realistic.
Before I had my nose job, I photoshopped my nose to look a certain way and I showed the surgeon.
Luckily it didn’t end up looking like that, because it was very unrealistic.
Since my nose, I’ve had everything from my chin to my teeth done.
Getting these procedures did boost my confidence.
But it creates the idea that I can still get other stuff and then eventually the perfect person will be there. But this is obviously not true.
For example, I think I have a nice jaw and then I put on a filter and suddenly I think it needs doing.
I do wish I’d never tried a filter in the first place, but it’s also the new “norm” so it would be something that found me eventually.
Although I’m still using filters, since my surgery I’m trying to use them less.
It also doesn’t help that people like the Kardashians post filtered pictures.
They make out they really look like the picture, but it’s actually a filter.
The treatments I’ve had have boosted my confidence, but it’s like a train of tweakments and I can’t get off it.
Once one feature is fixed, your eyes go to something else.
Even though there are filters and enhancements, you have still got to be confident in yourself afterwards, otherwise it’s that domino effect.”
Costs
- Multiple lip filler injections: £3,000
- Tear trough filler: £2,000
- Multiple Botox injections: £2,000
- Chin filler: £2,000
- Jaw filler: £2,000
- Cheek filler: £2,000
- Veneers and crowns: £5,000
- Rhinoplasty (surgical nose job): £5,000
TOTAL: 23,000
Loren, 26, post-surgery
CLINICAL researcher Loren Logan from Greater Manchester, who is single, spent £7,000 at, on a nose job after becoming obsessed with a filter on social media. She says:
“Around two years ago I had open septorhinoplasty, which is a procedure to straighten my nose.
Whenever I’d take pictures, I would always look at my nose and I used to hate it.
But with social media nowadays, if you don’t like how something looks, you can just put a filter on it.
It’s one click, you’ve got a filter, and it completely changes your face. Easy.
And after seeing myself with a filter on, I began to think, “Why don’t I just go ahead and do it?”.
I wanted to have surgery to look like the filter, without having to use it.
I didn’t have a specific filter, it was just any that would make my nose smaller and my skin smoother.
I was able to change how my nose looked in seconds, all through using a filter.
The filtered picture of me helped to show the surgeon exactly how I wanted my nose to look.
I wanted this surgery so badly that I got a second job at a bar to save the money and had it done.
My nose used to be an hourglass shape, so it went thinner in the middle. That’s been widened slightly so it looks straighter.
From the side I used to have a dorsal hump but now it is straight.
I definitely feel more confident now and, when I take pictures, I am less likely to use a filter.
But I don’t think filters are good for you. We get used to seeing ourselves looking perfect and that makes you think you can carry on tweaking.
And because everyone uses them and you see them so often, you start to say, “That’s what normal looks like” and you think, “Why don’t I look like that?”.
I just have to try not to get too carried away.”
Costs
- Nose: £7,000
- Boobs: £6,000
- Botox: £500
- Lip filler: £400
- Cheek filler: £600
TOTAL: £14,500
Doctor Tillo's reality check
SOCIAL media has always been a go-to medium for connecting people, but these platforms are linked to causing increased body dysmorphia, depression and other mental health disorders.
As technology develops and people spend more time online, they are increasingly exposed to the harmful effects of these platforms.
Not only do they blur the lines of reality, where it seems impossible to live up to the online world, they also promote unhealthy comparisons.
Yes, filters can improve your appearance, but only on camera and for a limited amount of time.
As a result people look for ways, even unsafe ways, to try to achieve that look permanently.
The most important thing is health – physical, mental and emotional.
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If using filters to enhance your appearance creates any form of unhealthiness in you, you shouldn’t do it.
In my day-to-day practice, I see the effects on younger generations and the pressure social media is putting on mostly the young and vulnerable.