Generation Y has grown alongside the digital age, and it’s second nature for many millennials to update their lives on multiple social networks.
With so many details about people’s lives floating around the internet, it’s not surprising plastic surgery procedures are also openly revealed and discussed on social media.
Millennials lead the way for candid posts about plastic surgery. From posting selfies in the waiting room to showing off photos of obvious body changes, there is little shame associated with the decision to go under the knife for beauty.
Plastic surgery overall has skyrocketed in the US over the past 19 years, from about 1.6 million total procedures in 1997 to nearly 13 million in 2015, according to the American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.
ASAPS data found Americans spent $13.5 billion on combined surgical and 16 non-surgical procedures in 2015. That’s a $1.5 billion increase since 2014. In the past five years alone, cosmetic procedures have increased 39 percent in the US.
Millennials account for nearly 18 percent of all procedure performed in 2015, according to the ASAPS. They may not be the age group with the most procedures done, but it’s still a large group.
Although many patients still remain hushed about their plastic surgery, Dr Daniel C. Mills, President of ASAPS, said sharing on social media is common inside plastic surgery centres and hospitals. “The number of millennials willing to do that is a lot more than any age group,” he said. “They’re just used to it.”
Mills explained that for millennials it’s not about whether or not to share a post about their plastic surgery; it’s what social platform to post it on.
Social media can also play a major role in encouraging or inspiring a person to surgically enhance their body.
With nearly 78 million followers on Instagram, Kylie Jenner, a famous member of the Kardashian family, is one of social media’s reigning queens. The 19-year-old launched a media frenzy in 2015 when she admitted to having lip injections to create her now sought- after lips.
There may be no proven scientific correlation between Kylie’s lips and millennial plastic surgery, but according to ASAPS, lip fillers saw a 27 percent increase in 2015 with more than two million procedures performed.
These filler enhancements ranked as the third-most popular non-surgical procedure for millennials in 2015, following laser hair removal and Botox, according to ASAPS data.
Copyright 2016 KXTV
