As our selfie culture thrives at the peak of vanity and modern-day narcissism, a bit of social poetic justice is about to be served. Constant snaps of selfies can allegedly accelerate the aging process. Dermatologists, facial aesthetic specialists and other experts are now supplying research through clinical observation suggesting that regular exposure of the face to the blue light and electromagnetic radiation emitted by smartphones can actually serve long term damage to the skin- promoting wrinkles, creases and deep folds.

Injectable technicians claim that they are able to tell which hand and angle a person positions their phone simply by the target areas of the face which appear to be most affected. An unnamed source at the highly-accredited med-spa Lucy Peters Aesthetic Center in NYC insights, “While assessing clients, a dull dirty looking texture resides on only one side of their face. By the touch, their skin feels off balance. Plus, even though the composition is unidentifiable, there is a lack of hydration needed to ensure skin is healthy with a smooth finish. You cannot hydrate the skin from the outside. We have to stimulate the skin to bring back hydration from within with a variety of treatments and/or procedures.”

Preventative measures need to be taken. The magnetic field is altering the minerals in the skin. Electromagnetic radiation from mobile phones ages skin by injuring the DNA. It can cause breaks in the DNA strand which can inhibit skin repairing itself and place oxidative stress on cells. Saturating your skin with anti-oxidants which can help prevent DNA damage from electronic devices is key. But will our followers still continue to ‘like’ our up-loads if we are not self-promoting our perfectly filtered facial features? Fashion, beauty, lifestyle, entertainment bloggers, and other influencers are at serious risk as their camera phones omit a very different wavelength of radiation that cannot be blocked by SPF or other moisturizers. Even the blue light from a person’s screen can leave a negative impact on the physical surface and overall health.

Then again, professionals who build their portfolios on Instagram, like makeup artists or plastic surgeons, are forced into take non-stop photos as part of their everyday job to drive traffic for client retention. Industry marketers cannot stress enough the importance of social media as a source of revenue stream for business, yet in an ironic twist the same people advertising treatments and supporting products for beautification are the ones soliciting the most skin destruction.
Since selfies are a relatively new phenomenon, doctors are only able to examine the evidence in their earliest of stages. The concept of selfies have sparked an entire commerce and enterprise of apps, tools, and trends. Movements like ‘duck-face’, ‘fish gape’, and sultry pouts flood our feeds all in the name of wrinkles. These unconventional, and often times uncomfortable manipulations of our facial muscles conforming and contracting to make these faces all adding to the loss of volume, collagen, and increasing of fine lines. There’s even the notion of “tech neck”, caused by constantly looking down at our screens, and the horrifying reminder that we’re not only constantly pressing our cheeks against devices that carry more bacteria than a toilet seat, but also furrowing the excess skin boosted by gravity.

While many opponents of the selfie-craze seek humor and relish in the idea that selfies are a cause of concern, most people agree that the art of selfie-taking will not decline in the media.

“Smartphones Equal Bad News for Your Complexion,” are among the top headlines of breaking news. Nuisance or not, selfies are not dying out, just speeding up your evolutionary right to age. Sorry selfie-haters, but as inflated as ego’s may be, or as cocky as one may be about their appearance, this proves momentary arrogance trumps long-term conceit as an adversary in the fight against wrinkles.