Plastic surgery apps aimed at kids aged 9

MAKEOVER apps and online plastic surgery games aimed at children as young as nine have been condemned as “shocking” by experts who want to see them removed from the internet.

The apps, with names like Plastic Surgery Princess, Little Skin Doctor and Pimp My Face, are intended to amuse and entertain but could be contributing to an epidemic of mental health problems in young people, members of an influential think tank believe.

While stopping short of calling for a legal ban, the Nuffield Council on Bioethics urged app stores to wake up to their responsibilities and clamp down on children’s cosmetic surgery games.

Katharine Wright, the Nuffield Council’s assistant director, said: “These things should not be made available online.”

Makeover apps featured prominently in a report from the think tank that recommends sweeping changes to improve the safety of cosmetic procedures.

The report said treatments such as breast implants, nose alterations, anti-wrinkle filler applications and skin lightening were largely unregulated.

Their current practice and promotion were said to be a “serious cause for concern”.

The Nuffield Council called for all cosmetic surgeons to be properly trained and certified, for a ban on nonmedical invasive procedures for patients under 18, and for evidence of safety and effectiveness to be required for dermal fillers and implants.

It also urged the Government to bring forward legislation to make all dermal fillers available by prescription only.

Increasing numbers of young people were suffering anxiety, depression and low self-esteem as a result of a societywide obsession with body image and celebrity culture, said the experts.

In 2015/16, the NSPCC’s ChildLine service received nearly 1,600 contacts from girls worried about body image, a 17% increase on the previous year.

According to a 2017 survey from the National Citizen Service, 27% of late teens cared more about their appearance than their physical health.

Such problems were exacerbated by apps that trivialise cosmetic surgery and turn it into a game, said the report’s authors.

Plastic surgeon Mark Henley, a member of the inquiry group, said: “We would like a ban on these apps, but what we want far more is for society to recognise just how revolting they are.”

THE Prince of Wales has delivered a personal message of solidarity from the Queen as he visited a north London mosque to learn about the Finsbury Park terror attack. Nine people were taken to hospital when Darren Osborne, 47, drove a van into an area...