Cosmetic surgery game apps

By downloading the free app ‘Plastic Surgery Superstar’, kids section (over 100,000 downloads, in Italian) on any mobile phone, players become cosmetic surgery “gurus” for ‘Hollywood celebrity’ patients.

The simulator allows users to inject Botox and anti-wrinkle treatments, repair broken nasal bones, plump lips and cheeks, cut skin, restore bruised faces, enlarge lips, stretch skin, and remove scars and blemishes.

There are hundreds of similar apps available for free download on Google, Amazon, and Apple platforms. A report published in the UK by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics denounced the phenomenon of apps aimed at children that promote “cosmetic surgery games.”

In the globalised, borderless world of the internet, Italy too has not been excluded from this growing trend.

“Who can resist the temptation of beauty?” reads the description of some games, or: “How do celebrities stay so beautiful? What happens in their daily lives? Run a Beverly Hills beauty clinic and find out.”

The Nuffield Council on Bioethics has placed this phenomenon under scrutiny. The Council, made up of a broad panel of experts (anthropologists, philosophers, psychologists, plastic surgeons, hospital doctors, ethicists, lawyers, and researchers from several UK universities), stated:

“Social media and popular culture create a constant bombardment focused on body image, reaching even those under 18. The Council expresses concern that young people are growing up with unrealistic ‘ideals’ of appearance. These expectations are fuelled by apps that present cosmetic surgery as a game, rather than as a branch of medicine.”

In its concluding note, the authors call for social media companies to cooperate in conducting independent research to fully investigate the issue.