The average age women are going under the knife has dropped to below 40 for the first time, an expert claims.
Women are now opting for cosmetic surgery by the age of 39 – down three years since 2012 when the average age was 42.
The Instagram culture is being blamed for the swift increase in younger women choosing plastic surgery for the first time.
But it is not just women who are opting to surgically alter their looks.
The average age of men seeking cosmetic surgery has also dropped in the last five years from 47 to 45.
The rise of “selfies” and photo filtering is one of the reasons for the boom in surgery amongst young patients.
It’s believed that patients see how their appearance is improved by a filter on their smartphones and come to the conclusion that surgery may be able to replicate that look.
There is also a desire to look better on social media – particularly Facebook and Instagram where so many personal pictures are shared.
The research was conducted by Harley Street facial cosmetic surgeon, Dr. Julian De Silva.
De Silva, from the Center for Advanced Facial Cosmetic and Plastic Surgery in Hammersmith, West London, looked at 2,000 patient records from the last five years across the UK.
While he claims he refuses to operate on anyone that is too young he also says some younger patients have good reasons for surgery.
He said: “They have done their research and have made a positive decision to improve their appearance. They may see their large nose, baggy eyelids, thin lips or weak chin as a barrier to acceptance and want to make a positive life change.”
“There is no doubt that the Instagram culture is having an effect on some younger patients. The desire to look good has never been stronger – you can see that in other trends such as the growing popularity of procedures such as teeth whitening.”
“Filtering provides an instant appearance improvement and I guess that does plant a seed in some patients’ minds.”
“They also pick up on very high profile cases where a relatively young, well-known person has improved their appearance through facial cosmetic surgery – a good recent example being the Olympic swimmer Rebecca Adlington having rhinoplasty at the age of 25 to improve the appearance of her nose. Her face was transformed by the surgery and it gave her added body confidence.”
“Millennial women see the obvious benefits of surgery such as Rebecca’s and think: ‘Why wait till my forties?’”
Research shows that more than half of us want to change the way we look and almost two-thirds of Brits would have cosmetic surgery to improve their appearance if the cost was not a consideration, according to De Silva.
There were 30,750 cosmetic procedures carried out on men and women in the UK last year, according to the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons.
Of these, 28,341 were carried out on women and 2,409 on men.
The most common surgery for women was breast enlargements, which accounted for 7,732 operations.
The top procedure for men was a rhinoplasty, commonly known as a nose job.