Selfie surgery: How young is too young?

Kylie Jenner admitted getting lip fillers. Photo / Getty

Cosmetic surgeons are claiming younger and younger women are coming to them for fillers, Botox, and surgery in a bid to look better on social media.

18-year-old reality star Kylie Jenner recently admitted to getting lip fillers. While many may see this as a typical celebrity practice, plastic surgeons say it's not just young celebs taking up the facial fixes.

London plastic surgeon Dr Alex Karidis told the Telegraph: "Increasingly, we're seeing women in their early 20s - and sometimes younger - having work done."

He says women in this age bracket have grown up reading about celebrities undergoing cosmetic surgery and consider it largely the norm.

"They take it for granted that if they want smoother skin or plumper lips, they can have them - and see no reason to wait."

He says social media has amplified the movement as many young women living "in the world of Instagram", want to document everything and look perfect doing it.

The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons also reported increasingly young women were approaching them for cosmetic work.

While Jenner has spoken about lip fillers being a way to combat insecurities about her appearance, clinical psychologist Dr Anuradha Sayal-Bennett told the Telegraph in her experience this doesn't always solve the issues.

"It's easier to fix the outside than the inside, because cosmetic work is now more acceptable than ever. Yet in my work with young women with body dysmorphia, I've found that it doesn't always make them happier or get rid of their insecurities."

- nzherald.co.nz