WXTK Better Health Minute: Why We Hate Our Selfies

Do you hate the way you look in selfies? Apparently, so do a lot of other people.

Acccording to The American Academy of Facial and Plastic Surgeons, about 55% of surgeons report that people come to them seeking cosmetic surgery so they can look better in selfies.

Boris Paskhover, an assistant professor at Rutgers University Medical School who specializes in facial plastic and reconstructive surgery, was frequently being shown selfies by people requesting a smaller nose.

Dr. Paskhover likens the use of cellphone camera to a portable funhouse mirror, due to the distortion created by photos at close range.

So to prove this to his patients he worked with researchers from Stanford University to come up with what they call the Rutgers-Stanford model, published in JAMA’s Facial Plastic Surgery. The model shows how the average selfie can make the nose base appear 30% wider and the nose tip 7 wider than if the person was photographed at a  normal distance of about 5 feet.

So if you hate the way you look in selfies, blame the method, not your nose.

This is Joan Trimble wishing you wellness.