DIGITAL Dysmorphia

“The one person who will never leave us, whom we will never lose, is ourself. Learning to love our female selves is where our search for love must begin.” When Bell Hooks, the American professor, author, feminist and acclaimed culture critic, penned this line in her 2002 book Communion: The Female Search for Love, it was already reflecting many of the challenges that define a woman’s journey towards self-love and acceptance. As noted by many feminist authors, the mainstream media has a negative effect on how women view their bodies, beauty and aesthetic.

Today, social media is part of that mainstream and while it’s easy for us to think digital dysmorphia is an issue amongst ama2000, that is not the case. And certainly not in doctors’ rooms. In 2018, the UK-based cosmetic doctor, Tijion Esho, coined the term ‘Snapchat Dysmorphia’ to explain a phenomenon that he had been noticing. Whereas before, patients would traditionally come to his rooms with a celebrity’s features as reference, now they were coming for a consultation using their