WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Israel Center for Addiction and Mental Health conducted a study, which included 1,614 Jewish, Hebrew-speaking women in Israel between the ages of 25 and 71, to assess the risk of addictive cosmetic procedure use.
The participants were surveyed in February 2025 through an online panel and asked questions about whether they had tried but failed to stop getting cosmetic procedures, whether these treatments had caused problems in their lives, and whether they continued despite negative experiences.
The findings, published in the Journal of Health Psychology, revealed that out of the total participants, 710 said they had undergone at least one cosmetic procedure. Among them, 20 percent showed a moderate-to-severe risk of addictive cosmetic procedure use during their lifetime, while 15.4 percent reported similar signs in the past year. When women who had never undergone a cosmetic procedure were also included, the rates dropped to 8.9 percent over a lifetime and 6.8 percent in the past year.
The research, which also examined other factors, including body image, self-esteem, relationship security, views on feminism and gender roles, attitudes toward aging, and social media use, found that 6.8 percent of all women surveyed showed signs of moderate-to-severe risk of addictive cosmetic procedure use in the past year. This was higher than the reported rates of gambling addiction and gaming addiction among Israeli women in separate studies.
The researchers also noted that among women who had cosmetic procedures, 1 in 5 showed signs of addictive behavior at some point in their lives. The risk was highest among women who had a negative body image and spent a lot of time on social media, especially when both factors were present.
However, the study had some limitations as it looked at participants at only one point in time; it cannot prove that social media use or poor body image caused addictive cosmetic procedure use. In addition, the study included only Jewish, Hebrew-speaking Israeli women who were recruited online, so the findings may not apply to other populations.
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