Not getting enough “Likes” on Facebook, get plastic surgery
Triana Lavey underwent plastic surgery and she did it for a radical reason. She wanted to look better on Facebook.
With the help of Beverly Hills plastic surgeon, she got rhinoplasty and chin implant.
Lavey, as a 37-year-old television producer in Los Angeles, spends a lot of time on Facebook. She started not liking the way her face looked on her Facebook pictures.
“I have been self-conscious about my chin, and it’s all stemming from these Facebook photos,” she told ABC News correspondent Cecilia Vega.
“I think that social media has really changed so much about how we look at ourselves and judge ourselves,” Lavey said. “Ten years ago, I don’t think I even noticed that I had a weak chin.”
Changing the camera angle did very little to get her more acceptable pictures.
“Here is a weak chin photo that I didn’t untag myself in … because I was working out really hard that summer, and I am pleased with everything else in the photo,” Lavey said. “But it’s my darn chin that bugs the living daylights out of me in this photo. … You keep looking and looking, and now it’s the first thing I look for in a photo. It all started with Facebook.”
It is an irony given that social media are supposed to make life easier it can drive people to do something extreme.
“Plastic surgery should be a last-ditch effort,” she said. “It should be after your workout, after your diet.”
“I am blessed; I can afford it,” she said. “I feel really lucky. I have worked my butt off, and I feel like if I can afford it if it’s something I can do to feel good and feel confident, why not? It’s 2012.”
The surgery Lavey got costs between $12,000 and $15,000. It is very possible that social media creating a culture of Internet narcissism like Keep wanting to get likes on our status and pictures.
More than a month after her surgery, Lavey was ready to show her 692 Facebook friends her new face. She said she felt more confident.
“It extends all the way from Skyping with people [to] having people tag me in a Facebook photo,” she said. “If the camera comes out at a party … I am fine with it. I am excited to see them. Before, I used to want to hold my chin, but now I want to show my face.”