… as the song by The Chainsmokers says! And it seems that nowadays, whatever we do,
wherever we are, we have to take a selfie!
What is a selfie? Well, the Oxford
Dictionary defines it as “a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically
one taken with a smartphone or webcam and loaded to a social media website”. On
November 19th, 2013, they even went ahead to announce selfie as their international Word of
the Year 2013. The Word of the Year is a
word (or an expression) that has attracted a great deal of interest during the
year to date. The Oxford Dictionaries’
editors conducted language research revealing that the frequency of the word selfie in the English language has
increased by a staggering 17,000% since the same time last year.
So where does that leave us? What does this mean? Is technology taking over and we are victims
of trends? Have selfies influenced
our existence? Thinking about it, I was
actually reading the TIMES the other day, and it said: “As tweens and teens try
to form their identity, selfies serve as a way to test how they look, and
therefore feel, in certain outfits, make-up, poses and places. And because they live in a digital world,
self-portraits provide a way of participating and affiliating with that world.”
Having read that, actually scared
me … I got to realize that selfies can
actually be influential in molding the sense of self … something that a few years
ago we would do by reading books, searching the web, listening to the news,
watching people and interacting with them, and even following fashion trends …
but this … this gadget/camera we have in our hands is actually taking more
control of our “being” than anything else in history.
But it
seems that I’m not the only one inquiring about the effect of selfies!
A survey conducted by the American
Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery is actually coming out
saying that the selfie culture is
actually even changing the cosmetic surgery numbers and shifting the
trends. The survey found that 30% of the
facial plastic surgeons surveyed saw an increase in requests for procedures due
to patients being more self aware of looks in social media and that a great
number of patients were dissatisfied with their own image on social media
sites. This is really having a poll on
self-confidence with people needing to hold a microscope up to their image and
self-critique it. Even if these pictures
are taken from our most flattering angle, they still may have
lighting issues and they may still force us to see whether we are comfortable …
within our skin! After all, these
images, uploaded in the social media sites, are the “first impressions” given
to other young people, potential romantic partners and even employers!
The
outcome? A 30% increase in “changing
appearance” procedures performed on younger patients, when prior the selfie-era, the facial procedures where
mainly performed to prevent or erase the visible signs of aging. And now you
may ask: What are the “changing appearance” procedures? Well, they include, but are not limited to
otoplasty, rhinoplasty, mentoplasty, cheek implants, lip augmentation, scar
revisions, and so on.
Otoplasty, also known as ear surgery,
will get rid of protruding ears that may have given us the cruel nicknames of “Dumbo”
or “Mickey Mouse” from our beloved classmates! This surgery can offer a real
emotional boost in addition to its cosmetic benefits.
Rhinoplasty, also known as nose
surgery, will enhance the appearance of the nose, a part of our breathing
system that unfortunately sits right in the middle of our face and has a great
impact on our appearance. With
proper analysis, realistic patient expectations and the skills of a qualified
and board certified facial plastic surgeon, rhinoplasty is a very rewarding
procedure, which makes a huge difference in overall facial harmony.
Mentoplasty, also known as chin
surgery, will help give balance to the face and create a major part of one’ s
profile, especially if the procedure is done on a “weak chin” which obviously
is not an asset. This procedure may take
one of two routes: chin augmentation or chin reduction. The augmentation is achieved with the help of
chin implants available in a wide variety of sizes
and shapes, while the reduction sculpts the bone to a more pleasing size.
Cheek implants add aesthetically
pleasing definition to the face improving the contour of the middle of the face
creating higher and more prominent cheekbones. The size and contour of the
cheek implants to be used will be determined by your plastic surgeon and custom
fit to achieve the most natural looking results.
Lip augmentation is basically a
cosmetic procedure that can give fuller and plumber lips but can still change
the overall balance of the face and give … better selfies!
Scar revision is needed when the skin
is injured from a cut or tear and the body heals by forming scar tissue. These scars may range from being nearly
visible to very obvious and disfiguring, often times acting a reminder of the traumatic
experience associated with it. There are various surgical techniques used in
scar revision and it really all depends on the scar, where it is located and
how it looks. A visit to your plastic
surgeon will give you all the options available for this revision surgery and
may be even a bad memory erasure!
And now
that I’m done with the article … let me take a selfie!!! NOT!!!
Works cited:
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