“I’ve had so much plastic surgery, when I die they will donate my body to Tupperware,” said the late Joan Rivers.

But while her hunt for the perfect look was defined by going under the knife regularly, it appears the image-conscious are now turning their backs on cosmetic enhancement.

According to data from the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS), the number of cosmetic operations conducted last year fell 40% to a near-decade low from a record-breaking high in 2015.

Fashion and entertainment commentators have said the growing influence of a wave of social media celebrities, including the beauty vlogger Zoella and the model Iskra Lawrence, could be behind the slump in demand.

For the first time in almost 10 years of relatively consistent growth, the number of cosmetic surgical procedures for women and men combined dipped below 31,000 – with 2016’s number 5% fewer than in 2007.

The BAAPS put the decline down to financial constraints but fashion and celebrity observers said social media savvy presenters and models were shifting the focus away from appearances to “relatability”.

Meanwhile, the previous generation of models, popstars and reality TV stars are turning their backs on cosmetic surgery, with Katie Price, for instance, having earlier surgery reversed.

The writer and former model Natasha Devon, a co-founder of Self-Esteem Team, an organisation that works in schools and colleges across the UK giving classes on mental health and body image, said the changes corresponded with the rising influence of social media on fashion. “When I was modelling more than 15 years ago, the casting director had a very definite idea of what they wanted before you walked into the room: you were a prop in their vision and invariably that meant conforming to a very narrow beauty ideal,” she said.

“Now, the models who get booked are the ones with the largest Instagram following. Increasingly, these are people who represent a broader range of shapes, sizes, ages and races. In turn, this representation of diversity has, I believe, contributed to people feeling more comfortable in their own skin.”

In a fall of 39.9% from 2015, 30,750 procedures were carried out on men and women last year: 28,341 procedures on women, down 39.1%; and 2,409 on men, a fall of 47.8%.

Nadia Mendoza, an entertainment journalist and co-founder of the Self-Esteem Team, said social media celebrities like Zoella were setting the agenda. “With the web, the vloggers and ‘Insta-famous’ have risen to the surface, and instead of trading on looks they trade on relatability,” she said. “This means the likes of Zoella, Grace Victory and Iskra Lawrence become the aspirational ones.

“Meanwhile, those who have had surgery, such as Victoria Beckham and Katie Price, have now had their implants removed, which sends out a powerful message to fans. While people like Danielle Lloyd and Alicia Douvall go on Botched Up Bodies to educate on the horrors of how surgery can go wrong.

“The rise in Botox, teeth whitening, tanning, contouring etc also means there are a lot more options than having to go under the knife.”

However, Mendoza said the statistics were not necessarily cause for celebration. “Plastic surgery is still openly celebrated among the rich and famous, including the MTV generation of Geordie Shore and Ex On the Beach, so I would be cautious that this decline isn’t subject to change as young people currently under 18 could still be hoping for surgery when they are of age,” she said.

BAAPS said that, anecdotally, the number of non-surgical treatments such as facial injectables was still rising steadily.

A consultant plastic surgeon and former BAAPS president, Rajiv Grover, who compiles the annual audit, said: “In a climate of global fragility, the public [is] less likely to spend on significant alterations and become more fiscally conservative, opting for less costly non-surgical procedures such as chemical peels and microdermabrasion, rather than committing to more permanent changes.

“Some procedures which have no real non-surgical equivalent such as abdominoplasty and otoplasty (pinning back prominent ears) are some of the few [that] changed little, with demand for tummy tucks actually recording an impressive rise among men.”

The top surgical procedure for women was breast enlargement, which accounted for 7,732 operations – down 20% from the previous year. Top for men was rhinoplasty, commonly known as a nose job, accounting for 529, down 35% from 2015.

The biggest fall was in the number of browlifts, down 71%. The number of men having abdominoplasty – or a tummy tuck – was up 47% with 172 procedures carried out.

The BAAPS president, Simon Withey, said: “The 2016 BAAPS audit demonstrates that at the very least, patients seem to be getting the message that cosmetic surgery is not a quick fix but a serious commitment and are as a result carefully evaluating risks as well as the benefits surgery may offer.

“If it means people are taking their time to be truly sure a procedure is the right investment for them, then this can only be a good thing.”