If you spoke to anyone in the cosmetic surgery industry, they would tell you that Botox injection has been one of the fastest growing procedures for years. The “quick fix” nature of injecting Botox, along with its relatively short-term effects, makes it an ideal treatment for surgeons and patients alike. However, the addictive characteristics of Botox and plastic surgery in general, is an issue that had been widely ignored.

Certainly, plastic/cosmetic surgery is by no means a “bad” thing. After all, disfigurements brought upon by extenuating circumstances such as burns, cuts, birth defects and the like can (at times) be easily remedied by cosmetic surgery. One could even argue that “correcting” imperfections such as an abnormal bump in the nose could potentially help a patient deal with issues of self-confidence and self esteem.

However, well over half of cosmetic surgery patients are repeat customers. Sadly, many of them are not trying to “fix” a legitimate deformity, rather they have an unrealistic view of their body which causes them to obsessively seek to improve it.

Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD), often called Ugly Syndrome, Dysmorphophobia and Body Dysmorphia, is a psychiatric disorder. People who are affected by BDD have a skewed or imagined view of their bodies which often causes them to continuously seek to change their physical appearance. Typical forms of cosmetic surgery include face lifts, liposuction, cheek implants, botox injections and more.

Although BDD is often seen as an obsession driven by vanity, people who suffer from BDD see themselves as being irreversibly ugly or deformed, which is why plastic surgery rarely solves their afflictions. Besides an addiction to cosmetic surgery, those who suffer from BDD can also experience social anxiety, clinical depression, bipolar disorder and suicidal ideation.