'Dramatic increase' in cosmetic surgery caused by young women wanting 'Love Island look'
31 August 2024, 11:50
Love Island is being blamed for a "dramatic increase" in the number of women wanting cosmetic surgery with the number of high street salons offering the treatment on the rise.
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One plastic surgeon has said that younger women in particular are increasingly requesting dermal filler packages, specifically asking for the “Love Island look”.
Cosmetic aesthetics doctor Ed Robinson said after the most recent series of the reality dating show on ITV began, those requests went up 12-fold, and by very young women in a trend he finds concerning.
Speaking to Sky News, he said: "With Love Island, I saw a dramatic increase in younger, mostly women, requesting dermal filler packages, wanting to achieve a Love Island look because they'd seen people on TV.
"Aesthetic treatments are not about looking like someone else. They're about small, subtle tweaks to improve your appearance, but that should always be bespoke to your individual anatomy; and conservative approaches are definitely better.
Dr Robinson said that the Kardashian family also has a significant influence on the types of treatment being requested and the volume of requests.
He said: “Every time they (the Kardashians) say that they've had a treatment, you get a huge surge in people wanting those specific things."
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The global data company Experian found that in the past five years the number of beauty salons offering treatment increased by 31%. In Scotland, they jumped by 42% and in the North of England there was a 46% rise.
A former contestant on Love Island, Malin Andersson, has said that cosmetic surgery can be addictive after she started getting lip fillers in her late teens, but could not stop.
She said: "I started to develop more body dysmorphia. I'd look in the mirror, see my lips, I think they weren't big enough. And then I kept repeating it; kept going back for more.”
She believes "social media, the media, the news, online [and] diet culture and magazines" are all responsible for persuading women to change their appearance.
Despite this, she added: "What it boils down to is not being authentic to who you are.
"I wanted to alter how I look, because I didn't find love from my caregivers growing up, and I thought if I changed my appearance, I'd be loved."
