Instagram: Digitally Altered Selfies Driving New Wave Of Plastic Surgery

Everyone wants to look attractive on Instagram. But this is beyond “image”-ination: Women, who look flawless on their social media platform but not in real life are taking their Instagram-posted selfies  to the plastic surgeons’ office for the ‘social media makeover’!

Midtown plastic surgeon Dr. David Shafer has clients pleading for a social-media makeover everyday. “They whip out their cellphones and start flipping through their pictures, saying, ‘I want to look like this all the time,’ ” he said.

According to The American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, there’s been a 33% jump nationwide in procedures driven by self-awareness from social media since 2013.

Pictures can be altered and uploaded using a slew of photo-editing apps that can soften the wrinkles and slim faces or bodies. Instagram filters further make complexion seem brighter, help fade blemishes, and de-emphasize skin discolorations, making a regular photo look like a glamorous image.

32-year-old Queens’ resident Nancy Chacon used to rely on either the Inkwell, or Sutro filters or the sepia tones to hide blemishes. “I decided I wanted people to see that person in person. So many people asked, ‘What are you doing to your face? You look so young!’ It was worth it,” Chacon said after the social media makeover.

Botox costs about $300, injections of Juvederm cost about $1,000 per syringe, laser treatments and broadband light photofacial therapy cost about $1,000, and a neck lift can run anywhere from $10,000 to $20,000.

The boom in Instagram-fueled cosmetic surgery is a step in the right direction, it would seem, “Clients are not trying to look like a whole different person anymore. We always stress taking what you have naturally and making it better. Otherwise, people can look really weird, with lips that are too big, a jaw line that’s unreal,” said Edison-based Dr. Andrew Miller.