A child psychologist says Instagram is driving a worrying trend among teenage girls, leading them to "beg" their parents to buy them lip fillers.
Australian psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg has slammed parents who indulge their daughter's wishes for cosmetic surgery, calling it "weapons-grade stupidity," reports Queensland Times.
One teenager who successfully convinced her parents to buy her the procedure said she was inspired by Kylie Jenner's infamous pout.
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In 2015, on an episode of the family reality TV show Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Jenner revealed her luscious lips were the result of lip fillers. The procedure became the most popular plastic surgery the year after, reports The Guardian.
"My older sister got a lip injection and then I saw Kylie Jenner," the 17-year-old told Daily Telegraph.
The teenager says she "begged" her mother until she gave in.
"At first she said I was too young but after a few months, she agreed. She thinks it's nice."
Lip injections are viewed as relatively safe, but like all plastic surgery, it does carry risks.
"The biggest risk for any type of filler injections is necrosis, which means filler got injected into a blood vessel and caused tissue death," said Dr Winne Moses, the medical director of a US beauty therapy clinic which offers lip fillers.
"It's rare but it can happen. Therefore it's very important to find a well-qualified and well-trained professional to do the treatment," she told women's lifestyle site The List.
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