Are You Suffering From Zoom Dysmorphia?

Daily Zoom meetings are worse than you think. They’re not just boring and tedious—they’re actually very bad for your self-esteem.

Many of us joke about hating video calls and obsessing about how our own faces look in the tiny window at the bottom of the screen. However, for many, this is no laughing matter. It’s a new (and very real) phenomenon being dubbed Zoom Dysmorphia or The Zoom Effect.

Millions of people are now seeing themselves through the unflattering lens of a webcam, while suddenly wondering if they need a boob job or a nose job. These video calls give us all a chance to zoom in on the insecurities we’ve had for years, or find new things to obsess over.

Not My Best Angle

By the middle of the pandemic, most of us had figured out which room in the house had the best (i.e. flattering) lighting for video calls. Many of us started out using the webcam on our laptop, but soon decided to spend a little bit of extra money on an external webcam that could be mounted from a higher angle. In fact, webcam sales had surged by almost 200% by the third week in March of 2020.

How unflattering can the laptop webcam be? Think of it this way. A recent study revealed that a picture taken from a foot away can increase your perceived nose size by 30% when compared to a picture taken from 5 feet away.

The Zoom Boom

These trends are creating a mini-boom for the plastic surgery industry that has been dubbed The Zoom Boom. A recent survey of facial plastic surgeons revealed that 70% of them reported an increase in business during COVID-19, while 90% of those respondents reported an increase of 10% or higher. And 83% of those respondents attributed the increase to the so-called Zoom Boom.

These plastic surgeons are not just seeing an increase in the demand for facial procedures. They’re also getting a lot of inquiries about body contouring procedures such as liposuction or tummy tucks. Hundreds of thousands of people are dealing with The Quarantine 15, as the lockdown has locked them out of their gyms and created unhealthy eating habits.

40% of surveyed Americans have gained weight during the lockdown, and 28% have gained more than 5 lbs. We don’t have to tell you that it can be a vicious cycle. The more weight you gain, the more you stress about your body, the more you stress eat, and there are no public gyms to burn the calories off.

So, if you’ve found yourself unhappy with how you look during the pandemic, you’re far from alone. Be kind to yourself. Allow yourself to be human, and know that you’re allowed to treat yourself by getting a little bit of help through cosmetic or plastic surgery.

You’re allowed to hate Zoom. We all do. But don’t let these Zoom calls lead to you hating yourself.