The figures highlight the growing trend as soaring numbers of image-conscious Millenials become reliant on steroids to bulk up muscles.
Over the past year the use of steroids has increased across the country with doctors reporting boys as young as 14 are injecting steroids.
The rise among bodyobsessed teenagers and young adults is being blamed on social media and the need for perfect profile pictures.
Long-term use often leads to side effects including high blood pressure, heart problems, stroke, liver damage and aggression.
Steroids can also cause psychological disturbances, such as depression.
Ian Hamilton, a lecturer in mental health at the University of York, who has examined the trend, said: “The effect of images these men are being fed through the media is helping to fuel this. We are looking at a public health time bomb.”
Professor Julien Baker, an expert in exercise and health science at the University of the West of Scotland pointed to the danger of blood-born viruses.
He said: “Social media and peer pressure is having an effect. Young people today are far less frightened than they were about taking something unregulated and drugs are easily bought over the internet.”
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