MPs probe explosion in body image ‘fix’ treatments

MPs on the health and social care committee have quizzed a number of witnesses on the pressures behind a rise in dissatisfaction with body image.

One witness, Kim Booker, spoke about her experience of living with Body Dysmorphic Disorder since age 5. 

She suggested that the proliferation cosmetic “fixes” were difficult to escape given her need to use social media for her yoga business.

She detailed how some companies advertising treatments were less professional in person then they appeared to be on their Instagram adverts, and that one aesthetician spoke to her for a matter of minutes before approving her requested procedures.

She agreed that more rigorous consultation would have been preferable prior to her decision to undergo multiple treatments, one of which left her with permanent under-eye scarring.

Lucy Thorpe, head of policy at the Mental Health Foundation, argued that body image must be emphasised in the education system, and that young people ought to be part of deciding what topics were important to learn more about.