With Mental Health Awareness Week coming to an end, we take a look at how filters are getting a bad wrap, as people continue to call out influencers for misleading young people with their apparent perfection on Instagram, Dr Somij Munir aka Dr MediSpa says, “It’s important to be comfortable with imperfection as perfection does not exist.”

Some app’s have popular filters features that slim down the jawline and nose, enlarges lips and enhances the cheekbones, giving the user a barbie-like appearance. But excessive use of these filters is leading to mental health issues such as body dysmorphia, says Dr Munir. 

“Instead of misleading people with unachievable ideals, try a few subtle aesthetic enhancements to give you confidence in real life and on screen,” says Dr Munir. “At Dr MediSpa we have an extensive range of non-surgical injectables and, with careful placement of micro-doses, they are great to subtly improve the look of your facial features and contours. If you are sensitive about the condition of your skin due to pigmentation, age spots or photodamage, then our skin bootcamp programme can target and effectively transform your skin health and appearance.”

Reality vs Instagram Say NO to Instagram filters

Recent studies conducted on people experiencing mental health issues such as body dysmorphia have revealed it is due to their use of social media, photoshopping selfies and comparing themselves to filtered images on Instagram.

This most popular filter is specifically used to enhance cheekbones, slim the jawline, slim the nose, and make the lips bigger, making Instagram users believe that this is what they ‘ideally should’ look like, and that their face without a filter isn’t the society ‘ideal’ anymore!

“When patients say ‘I want to look like this filter!’ It’s a big no from us, We believe in subtle enhancements to perfect the features you already have rather than change them, which is why our our patients don’t need filters!”

Credit: Dr Munir Somji – Dr MediSpa