A young woman has revealed how an ‘addiction’ to social media filters led to her shelling out almost £7,500 to remove a double chin that didn’t exist.
Aspen Brook used the digital technology to streamline her nose, change her bone structure and smoothe her skin when she was just 12 years old.
The now 29-year-old from California believed she looked worse without using the filters, including FaceTune, and even got the tool to remove a double chin she was convinced she had but in fact didn’t.
She said she ‘saw’ the non-existent feature every time she looked in the mirror and so spent £7,439 on AirSculpt surgery, a ‘minimally invasive’ treatment with no stitches or scalpels to remove fat.
However despite the major surgery, the former estate agent returned to using filters as she still didn’t feel the ‘ultimate’ level of ‘pretty’.
She told Daily Mail: ‘After getting the surgery, I was sure I would be finally happy with what I looked like… that I wouldn’t want to use face filters anymore, and I would finally feel confident in my own skin.’
On top of the AirSculpt surgery, Ms Brook continues to have botox and facial fillers and also underwent a boob job aged 21.
She also considered liposuction, which was denied by her surgeon who called her ‘crazy’.
But she now realises that she looked ‘very beautiful’ before her treatments, blaming the media filters for her developing body dysmorphic disorder (BDD).
The condition causes the sufferer to focus excessively on their flaws, and can lead to depression and anxiety.
Ms Brook said her use of filters had become addictive, with her believing that minor tweaks made her look beautiful.
She added her parents, strict Mormons, were ‘shocked and saddened’ when they learnt the truth and ‘heartbroken’ she had accepted surgery to remove the double chin she erroneously thought she had.
It took being pregnant with her first daughter and the lack of control over her body that came with the process to make her appreciate the pressure she had placed on herself to look better.
She said she was finally able to ‘pause and sit with myself’ as she put on up to 70 pounds with her baby.
This, coupled with the beauty of her baby girl, changed her views about herself.
As a result of her own experience, she hopes to steer her children away from social media until they are ’16 or 17′.
The mother-of-one advises those seeking treatment to find an ethical practitioner to ensure they undergo surgery for the correct reasons.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].
For more stories like this, check our news page.
