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| Before & After |
After clicking the download button, users can apply morphing technology tools that have long been the reserve of plastic surgeons to nip and tuck their faces and bodies.
But with over 200 already on the market, experts have spoken out against the dangers of the apps which encourage a culture that suggests changing your appearance should be done so easily.
Among the most popular is iAugment for women considering breast surgeries, and The Plastic Show which offers testimonials from other patients while iLipo allows users to perform virtual liposuction and Real Self offers 8,000 images of past procedures.
The American Society of Plastic Surgeons’ (ASPS) official journal, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (PRS), has its own version boasting surgeons' podcasts and multimedia links to the publication.
While some of the hundreds available on apple's App Store and Google's Playstore require payment, few insist on the user's age of consent before offering up endless possibilities of facial and bodily reconstruction.
Experts have pointed out the dangers of the spread of such technology, suggesting it can ‘trivialise’ the seriousness of undergoing life-changing procedures.
Dr Paul Harris of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons said: ’The recent appearance of Morphing Apps for patients themselves to use, is a worrying although inevitable consequence of technological developments coupled with an apparent insatiable appetite for more cosmetic surgery.
‘They give the impression that such changes are easily replicated by surgery and that changing the look of a particular part of the body is as easy as turning a dial on a Smartphone.
Dr Harris, who specialises in breast reconstruction, added: ‘It trivialises the impact and significance of surgery, which is life changing and permanent.’
Once users have generated the images, they have the option to upload them to a sharing website where others can comment on their before and after pictures.
But by sharing the images users may expose themselves to being pressured into undergoing a procedure they may not have considered in the first place.
'The majority of users are young people using them for fun rather than actually thinking of surgery.
‘The difficult area is when the vulnerable young patient starts to use them for fun by posting altered images and then gets pressure from their friends about their appearance and how good they look altered,’ said Dr Harris of Royal Marsden.
‘This seeds an idea or even worse pressurises a patient who would not normally consider plastic surgery.’
The global plastic surgery industry is worth around £8billion, with almost 50,000 procedures being carried out in Britain in 2012 alone.
Breast augmentation surgeries were the most sought after last year, with anti-ageing procedures seeing the largest increase in patients
