How SELFIES are driving plastic surgery boom among Millennials seeking a 'natural filter' 

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Around 40 percent of America's plastic surgery clinics are filled with people seeking work to give them a 'natural filter' so they look better on selfies posted on social media

Instagram selfies are the biggest incentive for plastic surgery, US surgeons claim in a new report.

Around half the patients clinics see today are seeking a 'natural filter' so they look better on social media, according to interviews with medics nationwide.

The survey also revealed a sharp rise in the number of Millennials getting nips and tucks.

The majority of facial plastic surgeons saw a rise in patients under 30. Many of them report a surge in patients as young as 18 - the youngest legal age for nips and tucks.

Why? 

There are two main reasons that jump out from the report, which surveyed all members of the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (AAFPRS).

First, a yearning to look good on social media or look like a celebrity. 

Second, a sway towards gradual age-defying tweaks, rather than waiting to do one major operation later.

Experts say this underscores something that has been looming for a long time: plastic surgery is becoming the new normal for teenagers. 

NIP N' TUCK-SPIRATION

SOCIAL MEDIA

Ninety-nine percent of US surgeons involved in the AAFPRS survey agree that celebrity and social media influence plays a big role.  

'People see pictures of themselves fairly routinely on Facebook,' said Dr Fred Fedok, president of the academy.

'Patients want to look good for their age for as long as possible, and we now have the tools to provide visible lasting results - with and without surgery.'

Despite Jenner denying plastic surgery, the internet exploded with speculation last month when the 19-year-old emerged in this outfit (pictured) - apparently displaying larger breasts

CELEBRITIES 

Fueling that desire for the perfect selfie, surgeons say, is the constant churn of celebrity selfies online: images of ageless stars presented as natural.

Indeed, the newly-documented increase in Millennials seeking plastic surgery coincides with the months and years of speculation that Kylie Jenner - the youngest Kardashian - has been getting work done. 

Jenner, 19, has denied anything beyond lip fillers. 

However, the internet nonetheless exploded with excitement when photos emerged last month of Jenner in a low-cut silver jumpsuit - apparently displaying larger breasts.  

Dr Broumand said patients do come in with images of people they would like to emulate physically, and he works with them to achieve that.

'Obviously, we have to be on the same page as our patients, to achieve reasonable outcomes,' he told Daily Mail Online.  

MORE MILLENNIALS SEEKING TWEAKS

The report found far more women and men in their 20s are using advanced skincare and sun cream, and starting with facial injectables before they turn 30.

In fact, more than half (56 percent) of facial plastic surgeons saw an increase in 2016 in cosmetic surgery or injectables with patients under age 30. 

'There is a rise in young people coming here for fillers, Botox, and for sure surgery,' Dr Stafford Broumand, of 740 Park Plastic Surgery, told Daily Mail Online. 

More than half (56 percent) of facial plastic surgeons saw an increase in 2016 in cosmetic surgery or injectables with patients under age 30 - some as young as 18 years old

Most of them, he explained, want fillers for their lips, Botox for brow lifts, and surgeries such as breast augmentation, breast reduction, liposuction and rhinoplasty. 

But it is controversial. 

Some surgeons have slammed prolific Botox usage on 18-year-olds. 

'Among very young women, there are a small number of valid reasons for having cosmetic correction,' consultant dermatologist Dr Nick Lowe, from The Cranley Clinic, told the Telegraph. 

'But there's an awful lot being done that, in my opinion, isn't appropriate.'

Dr Broumand agrees that surgeons need to exercise caution with young patients, but insists medical professionals are equipped to screen anyone that walks in their clinic. 

'Yes, too young is too early,' he says. 

'The patient needs to be mature about their requests and appropriate in their desires.  

'I spend a lot of time discussing the procedure, its risks, complications and alternatives. We also spend time fitting our patients for breast augmentation and I have 3D imaging available to help them understand their expected outcomes.' 

LESS TABOO FOR MEN 

Meanwhile, there has also been a boom in men getting tweaks. 

Some foresee that more and more men, who make up about a tenth of clients today, will be drawn in.

Slowing or reversing hair loss, for example, 'is a huge potential market,' said Bernard Mole, a Paris-based plastic surgeon.

Balding can be very distressing for many men, he said.

Hair implantation technology has improved and there is a drug that promises to boost growth - but these are expensive and take a long time - leaving a huge gap for a 'miracle' hair drug.

'Male patient population is increasing,' Dr Broumand explains. 

'They are more comfortable with plastic surgery, and injectables (fillers and Botox). 

'They come for their eyes, face lift, neck lift, neck liposuction, and abdominal liposuction.' 

Some foresee that more and more men, who make up about a tenth of clients today, will be drawn in - particularly to combat hair loss, as new surgical treatments become available

INDUSTRY BOOM WORLDWIDE

The industry is set to rake in a staggering $9.7 billion dollars in 2017 alone, according to a report released last month. 

That figure is largely fueled by a growing client base of teens and men. 

But it is also pushed by a boom in Asia as the procedures become more affordable and less of a taboo on the continent, experts said.

The global market grew by 8.3 percent in 2016 to an estimated value of $8.9 billion - the GDP of the Bahamas, according to data released last month at the IMCAS aesthetic industry conference in Paris.

In 2017, people are projected to spend $9.8 billion on face and body upgrades, growing to nearly $12.7 billion in 2020.

'There's a general acceptance that doing, whether it's surgery or less invasive procedures... to make you feel better, look better, it's much more accepted,' Nolan Karp, a New York surgeon and board member of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, said.

Demand in Asia is exploding, practitioners say, driven by a rapidly growing middle class and a quest for more Caucasian features.

Behind the United States and Brazil, South Korea was the third biggest market for aesthetic treatments in 2015, with 1.2 million procedures out of a global total of 21.7 million, according to data from the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.

While breast augmentation and liposuction are the most popular procedures in America, Brazil, Mexico and most of Europe, demand in South Korea is for eye, nose, cheek and chin resculpting.

'They [clients] will be treating areas of the face that will make them look like Europeans or Americans,' Laurent Brones, and industry expert, told AFP.

IMCAS data shows the Asia Pacific region will be the fastest grower, at 12 percent in the coming four years - overtaking Europe for the first time in 2020 to represent a quarter of the global market at over three billion euros.