How Niche Plastic Surgery and Tweakments Took Over Our Feeds

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In the fast-paced world of TikTok, trends come and go in the swipe of an index finger. Remember angelcore? Me neither. Yet one fad that has stayed in vogue is plastic surgery content. Aesthetic surgery, once considered a distant concept only accessed by the elite, is now a regular debate topic for casual pillow talk, lunch break conversations and comment sections. 

Group chats frequently discuss surgery trends fuelled by internet information, with the unrestricted flow of digital knowledge adding a new layer of normalisation to cosmetic procedure considerations. The internet has granted access to a world once shrouded in mystery, whilst simultaneously creating a false sense of reality: Inspired by their new knowledge, mined from social media surgery experts, thousands - maybe millions - are dead set on fine-tuning imagined imperfections, with niche plastic surgery trends becoming more popular than ever as a result.

The rise of plastic surgery content across social media feels like a given considering the simultaneous upsurge in self consciousness that comes with selfie culture, Zoom meetings and feature-enhancing filters. Combined, it has all made way for absurd, intense and increasingly specific alterations to enter the collective consciousness. Think: Botox in your traps, cosmetic facial threads, dimpleplasty, and Cinderella surgery to name a few. 

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But aesthetic trends are constantly in a state of flux. The pursuit of beauty has led to an era of plastic surgery procedures that accommodate whatever’s trending. Concurrently, non-invasive surgery or ‘tweakments’ have gained traction as new procedures promise cheap and quick results with minimal recovery time. For working class people who can’t afford to take time off for the recovery period that follows a major surgery, as well as a #wfh culture that grants many the downtime out of the public eye that they may need in order to snap back, the speediness of a tweakment appeals. The devil may work hard, but for those that have undergone a niche fix, aestheticians work faster.

One such niche trend that took over social media in the past year was buccal fat removal surgery, which removes fat from the face in order to create more defined cheekbones, providing the patient with a ‘succubus chic’ vibe much coveted across teenage TikTok feeds. It involves a doctor making two small incisions on the inside of the mouth, where fat pads are promptly pulled out, leaving a sculpted look in its stead. 

Yet even within the space of one year, the procedure has courted controversy, with many outlets, aesthetic practitioners and critics coming forth to criticise the tweakment. Like buccal fat removal, niche plastic surgery trends that shot to fame in days can just as quickly fall from grace. It's seen as a short term fix by experts and many are speaking out against the normalisation of surgery trends. The opposition has even meme’d its way into the discourse, with jokes like the unionisation of baby girl cheeks going viral across multiple platforms just weeks after we all learned what buccal fat even was, let alone that it could be removed.

It's become fashionable to document getting work done, with viral challenges like ‘nose job check’ inadvertently creating a culture in which viewers feel compelled to undergo similar surgical interventions just so they can emulate their digital besties.

Tweakments don’t mean that people are turning their backs on traditional plastic surgery either. Boob jobs are the trend du jour again, with influencers like Alix Earle talking openly about her breast implants, Kennedy Eurich documenting her breast augmentation surgery for her 1.4 million followers, and Jazmyn Smith of the Hot Girl Talks podcast talking to her 250,000 TikTok followers about her breast augmentation experience. While it may seem like all the TikTok girlies are getting boob jobs - or, as they put it, “their breasts done” - it’s concerning that such an invasive surgery is being normalised alongside less permanent procedures like filler.

It's become fashionable to document getting work done, with viral challenges like ‘nose job check’ inadvertently creating a culture in which viewers feel compelled to undergo similar surgical interventions just so they can emulate their digital besties. For better or worse, the virality of different plastic surgeries is a vicious cycle that influences the type of cosmetic enhancements people want done. It is not a coincidence that issues like body dysmorphia are growing rapidly.

But while a select few celebrities - mainly influencers, who stand to gain popularity from their candour -  have openly discussed their surgery, others stew in a sense of denial. In 2020, Hailey Bieber threatened to sue Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Dr Daniel Barrett for suggesting she’d had a nose job. Similarly in June 2023, Chrissy Teigen responded to a post by Dr Kay Durairaj debunking claims of facial surgery, stating all she’d done was “gain a little weight”. The ongoing trend of TikTok famous plastic surgeons hypothesising about which procedures celebrity’s may have undergone leaves a sour taste - while some may argue that these videos are a form of knowledge sharing and prove that nobody can match up to traditional beauty standards, not even those who are famous for being beautiful, others feel that such content is damaging. Instead of inspiring women to leave aesthetic ideals behind, younger generations are going into masses of debt in order to match up with their fav celebs. All while said celebrities do the utmost to deny having had any work done.

Amid the chaos of niche plastic surgery trends, however, there is a glimmer of hope; the pendulum starts to swing the other way. The internet is collectively clapping back, questioning the ulterior motives and potential risks associated with viral-of-the-moment procedures: Droves of digital natives are encouraging each other to embrace their natural features, such as Gen Zers showing off their natural noses with some even getting their nose jobs reversed. If spreading awareness of the dangers of tweakments isn’t enough to stop people going under the knife, our only hope is that glamourising our natural features enough will have viewers stop scrolling through their feed and reconsider if a tinkerbell nose tip lift is truly the answer to all their insecurities.

Words: J’Nae Phillips