These Will Be the Biggest Plastic Surgery Trends of 2026

12.12.2025, 02:34 allure.com

If you want to make a plastic surgeon squirm, just ask them about "trends" in the field. The T-word sets them on edge. And we get it: It's deeply unwise to allow the whims of fashion to dictate the age at which you get a facelift or the size of the breast implants you put in your body. After all, if you're unhappy with your purchase, you can't simply return it as you would a disappointing pair of barrel jeans. Nevertheless, plastic surgery isn't immune from the influence of culture, the virality of social media, or the fluctuating preferences of the people. Each year, surgeons see the demand for certain treatments swell, and the interest in others recede.

When we asked these doctors how they foresee the aesthetic landscape shifting in the months ahead, they were quick to confirm the staying power of certain procedures and phenomena that Allure has recently covered: the GLP-1-propelled boom in body contouring, the enduring appeal of liposuction, the downsizing of breast implants, the rise of tissue-preserving facelifts and boob jobs, the increasing demand for ready-to-use fat (a.k.a. Alloclae), and even the anticipated growth of rib remodeling. While that last one may seem like a stretch (social media is, frankly, appalled), board-certified plastic surgeon Charles Galanis, MD, predicts that the controversial procedure will gain ground in 2026. “It’s all part of the year of the waist,” he says.

Surgeons also alluded, somewhat vaguely, to “regenerative” treatments, which have garnered tremendous buzz lately—and may someday have an Ozempic-caliber influence on the field—but currently lack evidence and FDA approvals. (We’re talking exosomes, salmon sperm, growth factors, and novel peptides.) By and large, “these are much more experimental kinds of concepts that have not played out yet in clinical trials,” says Daniel J. Gould, MD, a board-certified plastic surgeon and the section editor for regenerative medicine at the Aesthetic Surgery Journal. From a scientific standpoint, he adds, 2026 will be a year for separating fads from facts in this realm, but it could be some time before these treatments yield enough convincing data to be widely adopted in practice.

So what’s emerging now and actually within reach? Ahead, plastic surgeons prognosticate on the treatments that will fizzle out, gain steam, or even revel in a rebrand.

The Brazilian butt lift is staging a quiet comeback. How quiet? At his New York City office, “we don’t even mention the word,” says board-certified plastic surgeon Ryan Neinstein, MD. Surgeons are dropping the acronym in favor of the procedure’s formal name: fat grafting to the buttocks. “The term BBL still frightens people,” Dr. Galanis explains, “so we have to be careful with that and explain that what we’re referring to is fat transfer.”

The fear is rooted in old data—namely, a survey from 2017, which reported that the BBL had the highest mortality rate in plastic surgery. The findings were hotly contested, Dr. Galanis notes, since the study had a low response rate and relied on self-reported outcomes, mostly from South Florida clinics “allegedly operating under less than ideal circumstances.” The paper also outlined technical recommendations for making the surgery safer (number one being: avoid injecting into the gluteal muscle, which can cause a fatal fat embolism). When the BBL survey was repeated a few years later (“in a more well-designed study,” says Dr. Galanis), the death rate had dropped and was shown to be similar to that of a tummy tuck. What’s more, a 2022 study looking at the disproportionately high rate of BBL deaths in South Florida, specifically, linked the majority of fatalities to “high-volume, budget clinics.” R. Brannon Claytor, MD, a board-certified plastic surgeon in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, blames these “chop shops” for “giving a bad name to a good operation.”

While the procedure hasn’t completely shaken off the stigma, in 2026, the BB… sorry, fat grafting to the butt is reemerging as a safe surgery that prioritizes shape over size. “The results are more subtle, more complementary to other procedures—like, you’re getting liposuction or a tummy tuck, and the BBL is just meant to complement the contours you’re creating elsewhere,” Dr. Galanis says. In a sense, the BBL is lending to a smooth silhouette overall, easing the transition between the waist, hips, butt, and thighs, he explains, and the end result is “not something that is popping out of clothes,” but rather “a look that someone could’ve been born with”—or perhaps built at the gym. Surgeons describe the new aesthetic as perky and athletic. “We talk about the ‘Pilates-instructor butt,” says Dr. Neinstein. In the majority of his mommy makeovers—including those on 50-, 60-, even 70-somethings—he’s “putting just a little bit of fat above the muscle,” so that the butt, when lifted, doesn’t look deflated and flat. Gone are the Kardashian comparisons. “We’ve gotten past the idea that a BBL means having a huge ass,” he says. “That’s no longer how patients think about it.”

In recent years, the facelift has seized the zeitgeist. We’ve witnessed the relentless rivalry between deep plane and SMAS proponents, the incessant speculation over 30-something celebrities getting surgery, and the all-out hysteria surrounding a certain 70-year-old who shocked the internet by naming her facelift surgeon (and then inviting him to her birthday party). Each moment has helped to transform the facelift from a last-ditch surgery for seniors to a coveted glow-up for virtually anyone who can afford it.

What’s next? Some say the biggest news pertains to smaller scars, as more surgeons are offering “limited-incision deep plane lifts” (a.k.a. “midface lifts” or “endoscopic lifts”), primarily to patients who are seeing early drooping but still have good skin elasticity. In such cases, surgeons can use endoscope-guided techniques to target and reposition fallen tissues while skipping the usual incisions around the ears where extra skin is customarily cut away.

Unlike mini lifts of the past—which inspired the mantra: “mini lift, mini results”—the latest iterations go deeper and are more comprehensive and durable. These are “maximally invasive surgeries performed through minimally invasive incisions,” explains Dr. Gould. His version of the procedure elevates the outer brow and the cheeks through tiny incisions hidden in the hair behind the temples. For patients who also want to address their necks, he makes a separate incision under the chin, through which he can tighten the platysma muscle and reduce deeper structures that are detracting from a sleek jawline. As with the scalp incisions, the nick under the chin serves only as an entry portal; it doesn’t allow for skin removal.

While limited-incision lifts are having a moment, they’re not new. Andrew Frankel, MD, a double board-certified facial plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills, says he’s been performing midface lifts since 1998. (He approaches the cheeks both from above, through slits in the scalp, and below, via incisions inside the mouth, freeing up the tissues and suspending them in a higher position.) While the midface lift has gone in and out of fashion over the years, Dr. Frankel has always found it to be a powerful tool for vertically lifting and “optimizing” the cheeks without adding artificial volume. “If someone doesn't have lax skin or jowls, a midface lift can redistribute the volume in the cheeks and provide a refreshed look without visible incisions,” he says.

Unsurprised by the procedure’s resurgence, Dr. Frankel attributes it to the public’s disillusionment with filler—the sad fact that it can’t lift the cheeks—as well as the uptick in 30- and 40-somethings seeking surgery as a means of beautifying. When he performs the midface lift as a standalone operation, it’s typically on younger patients (average age: 45) with the goal of enhancing cheek projection and obscuring under-eye hollows. “What it doesn’t do is affect your jawline and neck,” he notes. So, in older patients, he’ll commonly combine the midface lift with a traditional deep plane face and neck lift.

“A lot of surgeons are doing that,” adds Mike Roskies, MD, a double board-certified facial plastic surgeon in Toronto—meaning: incorporating endoscopic midface maneuvers into their “open” deep plane surgeries in order to boost the cheeks more effectively. In a field rife with conflicting opinions, surgeons seem to agree on this: “The midface represents the future of facelifting,” says Dr. Gould. “It’s the hardest thing to get right, but it’s where the beauty lies.”

The next big controversy in aesthetics will focus on the neck, says Babak Azizzadeh, MD, the president-elect of the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. “We’re going to be hearing a lot more about the submandibular glands and how surgeons treat them,” he says. The debate over when and how to reduce these salivary glands is already in full swing at medical meetings, but Dr. Azizzadeh expects it to fully permeate the public forum next year (if not sooner: I saved three posts on submandibular gland contouring last week alone).

During a deep neck lift, which some call a “structural neck contouring,” surgeons go underneath the platysma muscle to trim the deep fat, the digastric muscles (which help to open the mouth), and the submandibular glands, which can droop and bulge with age, compromising a clean neckline. While not everyone needs a gland reduction, “in some patients, no matter how great of a deep plane facelift you do, if you don’t contour the glands, you’re not going to get a beautiful result overall,” Dr. Azizzadeh says.

The pursuit of next-level outcomes is compelling facelift surgeons to address the glands with a greater frequency than in the past. Dr. Azizzadeh says he treats the glands in 50% to 70% of face and neck lift cases; five years ago, the number was less than 10%. Dr. Roskies adds that in about 80% of his patients, “gland re