All around Hollywood A-listers are unveiling youthful new looks and naturally the rumour-mill has been in overdrive to figure out why. You might have heard claims that face lifts are back and that a select few surgeons have found a new way to perform them to maximise the results. But where has this all come from?

Celebs like Kris Jenner have recently been commended for their work, after she unveiled a noticeably younger look in Paris earlier this month. She recently confirmed she’d had some new enhancements to Page Six, but went short of sharing what that included. It comes hot off the heels of several of our favourite stars have been accused of getting this rumoured face lift, namely Lindsay Lohan. She has denied getting a face lift.

From the number of articles pumped out on this one topic, you’d easily imagine the surgery is becoming extremely popular, but is this even true?

One thing is clear: the way we talk about plastic surgery has changed drastically. Once an elusive thing for the rich and wealthy and often associated with botched results, surgery now feels ubiquitous. From the amount of enhanced faces we see onscreen through TikTok and Instagram, to films and famous actors’ changing appearances, and the fact it’s reported on extensively, it often feels like everyone has had work done and opting out is the real rarity in 2025.

‘Whether this normalisation of cosmetic surgery within society is a good or bad thing is one thing, but another is the fact there’s been a clear shift in how common it feels. In fact, the representation of tweakments across media has given us an over-inflated idea of just how commonplace it is.

According to the Office for National Statistics, the United Kingdom’s population is estimated to be around 67.6 million. In 2024, according to the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS), 93.5% of all cosmetic surgeries were performed on women, with a total of 25,663 procedures, out of the 27,462 ones performed on a whole that year. This means just 0.04% of the UK’s population had gotten cosmetic surgery.
Within this, only 1,882 people got a face lift that year. Although the figure increased by 8% from the year before, this tiny figure proportionally highlights just how small a group this is.

Why does it matter if the numbers are so small? Well, it feels significant that many of the faces across media disproportionately indicate that cosmetic surgery is everywhere, and many of us (myself included) are being encouraged to think everyone is getting work done. The cosmetic surgery industry has a huge amount to gain from this myth, as we’re all being promoted the idea that it’s the norm to spend large sums of money on elective aesthetic procedures, and it’s anomalous not to.

Vice President of BAAPS Anthony Macquillan said, ‘Post-COVID, we’ve observed a shift in patient priorities, with a greater focus on both mental and functional health. This may explain the rise in procedures like abdominoplasties and breast reductions, which offer both physical and psychological benefits.

‘At the same time, the increase in facelifts could be linked to societal changes, such as the rising pension age and the desire to remain relevant in the workplace. For many, this type of surgery is not just aesthetic but also functional helping to maintain confidence, secure employment, and reduce anxiety associated with age-related bias.’

Still when you look at the top procedures, they’re still likely the ones you’d assume were most popular from the past decade. While medical tourism is very popular, and not everyone chooses to go with accredited surgeons, the figures are very low.

The Top 5 Cosmetic Procedures of 2024:

Breast Augmentation – 5,202 (+6%)
Breast Reduction – 4,707 (+1%)
Blepharoplasty (Eyelid Surgery) – 3,138 (+13%)
Abdominoplasty (Tummy Tuck) – 2,997 (+6%)
Liposuction – 2,623 (+8%)

With all of that in mind, our message is to take cosmetic surgery content with a pinch of salt. Yes, your TikTok algorithm might be feeding you videos repeatedly of women getting tweakments and body modification, but this is a very, very narrow impression of the world. It makes sense that anyone in the public eye would get work done, as their face is being broadcast to large numbers of people, but the average person is still extremely unlikely to get anything done, let alone a face lift.

If you choose to get something, that’s a choice only you should make, but don’t let the current over-reporting of tweakments and cosmetic surgery make you feel like you should.