The tech-enabled rich face is here

AI agents, the ultrawealthy and digital media have brought facelifts, body contouring and cosmetic surgery into the mainstream.

Thanks to new-age surgeries, biologics and chemicals, people, especially the rich, have started to look different after they age and they’re flaunting this rich face. (Reuters/ Representative photo)

We’re living in the Kardashian era. There was a time when cosmetic surgery was done surreptitiously. People lied about it, hiding their liposuction and Botox even from closest friends. Now, it’s different. For the elite and the wealthy, plastic surgery has become the new Rolex watch or Bvlgari diamonds. To be tried, to be customized to their self-care needs, to be flaunted.

Thanks to new-age surgeries, biologics and chemicals, people, especially the rich, have started to look different after they age and they’re flaunting this rich face.

“445 cc, moderate profile, half under the muscle!!!!! Silicone!!!”responded 28-year-old celebrity Kylie Jenner, founder of Kylie Cosmetics when a fan asked her on TikTok on what she used in her surgery to get such perfect breasts.

There’s even a political term for this hyper-polished aesthetic: The Mar-a-lago face has sculpted cheekbones, contoured bodies, puffy lips and taut faces and necks thanks to incessant face lifts. In women it’s accompanied with a sculpted body -- perfect breasts, narrow waists and pumped-up hips.

Cosmetic surgeons are increasingly marketing these surgeries as an investment for a successful career and thanks to social media, people are falling for it. Injectables, serums and anti-aging facials are creeping into millions of screens worldwide pushing an idea of pursuing youthful beauty – in the name of success. The South Korean army is dealing with soldiers reporting back to duty with rhinoplasty injuries, while in Europe micro-needling and eyelid surgery queries have skyrocketed on Google Trends. “If I didn’t get my body right, I wouldn’t be where I am today,” says rapper Cardi B on Instagram.

Our Tiktok desires to look younger

According to Global Survey 2025 by the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, nearly 38 million procedures were performed in 2024. There’s been a whopping 42.5% increase in cosmetic procedures over the last four years.

Globally, the top five surgical procedures are eyelid surgery, liposuction, breast augmentation, scar revision and rhinoplasty. Across the world, South Korea remains a clear leader in per capita cosmetic procedures followed by the US, Brazil and Japan. India’s not far behind: It holds the 7th position worldwide in the total volume of aesthetic procedures, performing over 1.28 million procedures annually. To be sure, on a per capital basis, India would rank down the listing.

The collective social fascination with changing looks has culminated into social subcultures like ‘looksmaxxing’, started by 20-year-old Branden Peters, known online as ‘Clavicular’. In this internet trend, young boys use hammers or fists to hit their faces and cause micro fractures to restructure the underlying bones into a more chiselled, more manly face.

Peters recommends steroids to pump up the body, meth to curb appetite and last month livestreamed his two-hour long rhinoplasty. And the sheer popularity of his advice shows how narcissism has taken a new technology-enabled twist in modern lives.

The Tiktok trend seems to be a cheaper knockoff version of the custom-created body contouring surgeries which have been catching on amongst the wealthy. Other than the regular breast augmentation and butt lift, the new thing in body contouring is the Barbie waist. A V-shaped waist where the surgeon micro fractures ribs, twisting them, so that people get that narrow waist dip along with fuller buttocks and longer legs. Like Barbie – the doll many grew up with. After the ribs are twisted, people have to wear a corset for about 2-3 months to give the ribs time to naturally reshape themselves in their aesthetically acceptable tight V.

New technologies driving plastic faces

One of the reasons the Barbie waist is popular, according to a paper published last year in Aesthetic Surgery Journal, is that the surgery has become safer to perform. Doctors in Colombia and Brazil who perform the Waistline Aesthetic Slimming by Puncture (WASP) procedure have published that only around 6% of their patients faced spinal disorders or chronic respiratory diseases, and that the rest could recover within 2-3 months. Compare this with a Brazilian butt lift (BBLs) where complications can be as high as 25-30% of cases.

What makes advanced reconstructive surgeries safer are new vessel-sealing technologies such as LigaSure developed by Medtronic based in Ireland. This technology minimizes the risk of bleeding during a surgical operation and reduces operation times. Robot-assisted microsurgery on top of 3D constructed simulations have also made these surgeries more precise. Italy-based Medical Microinstruments for example, has developed Nano…