A flat stomach, two-inch thigh gap, healthy bust, toned butt, perfect skin, flawless hair, and a scenic background is all any girl needs for her perfect profile picture. While these strict requirements may seem virtually unattainable, technology has proven them possible with just a swipe of the finger.

Facetune, RetouchMe- Body and Face Retouch, Bodytune and ModiFace Photo Editor are just a few of the body and face editing iPhone apps flooding the App Store. These apps let users reduce body parts they wish to be thinner and amplify body parts they wish to be larger by either pinching or spreading their pointer finger and thumb across their screen.

Eliminating blemishes, shaving off unwanted fat tissue, widening thigh gaps, shrinking stomachs and whitening teeth are some features of great aid to achieving the much sought after ideal look.

To some, this idea of manipulating and adjusting body parts may seem foreign, but there are in fact students at Staples beginning to fall into the routine of going a bit further than the simple Instagram filters.

Jennie Blumenfeld ’15 said she has some friends who use the app, Facetune. “They use it to whiten their teeth, sharpen their eyes, smooth their skin, or make them look skinnier,” Blumenfeld said.

She, herself, has also used Facetune to edit her friend’s photos for them. “Once my friend didn’t like the way her legs looked in a picture, so she had me make them look skinnier for her,” Blumenfeld said.

Similarly, Claudia Boland ’16 also said she knows people who use various apps to cover up acne, whiten teeth, and make themselves look skinnier. “It’s kinda sad that people feel the need to alter their bodies for pictures, but then again I understand why, considering how judgemental people can be,” Boland said.

Jack Marsilio ’15 also thinks it’s sad because “these girls think they have to live up to an image created by the media, when they should be comfortable with who they really are.”

Furthermore, Noah Prince ’15 recently learned about the new trend of girls utilizing these apps and was hugely surprised. “That’s like really messed up. I don’t know why people would do it,” Prince said.

Blumenfield thinks social media is one reason why people use these apps, “With social media being so prevalent in our lives, people are desperate to do anything to make themselves look better, and when word spread that there was a way, people couldn’t resist,” Blumenfeld said.

So, is that profile picture of that seemingly flawless girl with the insane body and pristine face real? Or did she spend hours gliding her fingers across her iPhone screen? Who really knows these days . . . .