Beauty filters on social media such as Instagram or TikTok have changed the way many people see their own image. Smaller noses, fuller lips, prominent cheekbones and completely smooth skin are some of the features these filters can change automatically.
The problem arises when that digital image stops being seen as an effect and becomes a beauty model to be reproduced on the real face, especially among younger patients.
Dr. Santiago Elvira, plastic surgeon, reconstructive surgery specialist and co-founder of Clínica EGOS, recently spoke about this in an interview published by El Debate, in which he analyses how social media is influencing the expectations of patients who come to plastic surgery and aesthetic medicine consultations.
Beauty filters are creating new aesthetic standards
Digital filters can change almost any facial feature in seconds. They slim the nose, increase lip volume, highlight the cheekbones and remove skin imperfections.
For Dr. Santiago Elvira, the problem is not only using these filters, but that they can help normalise an image that does not match a person’s real anatomy.
The surgeon warns that this phenomenon is encouraging an increasingly unnatural perception of beauty and can lead some patients to want to physically reproduce the features they see in their edited photos.
“Beauty filters tend to slim the nose a lot, enlarge the lips, sharpen the cheekbones and completely remove the natural texture of the skin”.
According to the specialist, this model can end up producing faces that are too similar to each other, far from the characteristics that give each person their own facial identity.
The aesthetic trend that should prevail: naturalness
In the face of the exaggerated results that social media can popularise, at Clínica EGOS we defend an approach based on proportion, harmony and naturalness.
The goal of an aesthetic treatment should not be to turn one face into another, but to improve certain aspects while respecting its own characteristics.
For Dr. Santiago Elvira, an essential part of the consultation is explaining to the patient what can be achieved safely and where the limits are in order to maintain facial or body harmony.