The trend of celebs getting “work” done is nothing new. It used to be confined to the older contingent, the merry-go-round of botox, fillers and facelifts a mainstay of women (and men) of a certain age desperate to hold back the hands of time.
More recently, we’ve seen the average age for these procedures dropping dramatically. People in their forties, thirties and even twenties are subscribing to a full gamut of regular tweakments and treatments to achieve the same eerily similar “Instagram face” of homogenised hotness.
Within this world of non-stop self “improvement”, specific cosmetic trends go in and out of fashion, from the tell-tale, hollowed out cheeks of buccal fat removal to the sudden uncanny uplift enabled by the deep plane facelift. Now, it’s the turn of the eyelids to get their moment in the spotlight.
Upper blepharoplasty surgery, often colloquially referred to as “bleph” surgery, involves removing excess or sagging skin, muscle, and sometimes fat from the upper eyelids to give a more open and youthful look. It has “100 per cent” become more popular in recent years, according to Dr Rishi Mandavia, a consultant ENT and facial plastic surgeon specialising in facial surgery and rejuvenation.
“One of the first surgical procedures that patients will have for anti-aging and facial rejuvenation is an upper blepharoplasty surgery, because the upper eyelids are really hard to address non-surgically,” he says. “As a result, it’s a really nice first option for surgery where you’re going to have a fantastic result, it’s very safe, low downtime, and most people are candidates for it by a certain stage in life.”
And indeed, the procedure used to be the preserve of people who were 50+, an age at which the eyes might have naturally become more hooded with crepey, excess skin. However, these days an increasingly young demographic has started enquiring about getting their blephs done.
“We are seeing a higher number of younger patients seeking this surgery,” says Dr Mandavia. He will often steer people away from it: “I’m saying no a lot of the time to those patients if it’s not appropriate for them. What you don’t want to do is remove any extra skin if there’s not enough excess, because that can lead to the horrors of incomplete eye closure, really bad scarring, dry eyes.”
There’s an argument that more young people are interested in this kind of procedure – and are even aware of its existence – because a growing number of young famous faces appear to be getting it done.
In the cult of Hollywood cosmetics, it’s very hard to say for sure who’s had what; most A-listers remain tight-lipped about the amount of “help” they’ve had to stay permanently pert and youthful, often explaining away their newly snatched visage with vague reference to some mythical combination of impeccable sleep hygiene and drinking plenty of water.
But speculation is rife. The latest face to raise eyebrows – pun intended – belongs to Jennifer Lawrence. The 36-year-old Hunger Games actor recently starred in a photoshoot for The Cut; the resulting pictures that have been circulated online, in which J-Law’s lids appeared discernibly taut and her brows lifted, immediately sparked rumours of upper bleph surgery.
There was outcry – Lawrence has always been known for her distinctive brand of beauty and non-cookie cutter features, including sultry, slightly hooded eyes. Any talk of procedures is completely unsubstantiated, however and – who knows? – maybe it’s just a trick of make-up, lighting and Photoshop.
Her Silver Linings Playbook co-star, Bradley Cooper, is another member of Hollywood royalty whose appearance set tongues wagging, with claims that he’d “gone too far” in 2023. There was speculation, again completely unsubstantiated, that the then-48-year-old had undergone an op on his blephs (among other cosmetic procedures) during the press tour for his film Is This Thing On?.
On a podcast earlier this year, Cooper appeared to agree with his longtime friends and hosts Jason Bateman and Will Arnett when they vehemently denied any plastic surgery claims, calling the idea “hilarious”.
Fans are also adamant that a number of young women in the public eye have had the procedure, with compelling “before” and “after” photo composites published online of the likes of Taylor Swift (36), Miley Cyrus (33) and Emma Stone (38). It’s important to be clear that all of these claims are also unconfirmed and uncorroborated.
Whether or not these particular performers have had an upper blepharoplasty is almost irrelevant. The mere discussion about the procedure has a knock-on effect on us mere mortals, resulting in an uptick in young people, particularly women, seeking surgical intervention to keep up with the Joneses. Or should that be the Kardashians?
There is a palpable sadness beneath all of this. “Bleph” content is all over social media; Insta is saturated with before and after surgery posts, while other users are mourning what they see as another blow for individuality, uniqueness and character when it comes to facial aesthetics.
“Nobody appears to have eyelids anymore,” as one podcast host puts it. “Eyelids are over.”
But there is also some push-back. Kyla Cobbler, an Irish stand-up comedian with 1.3 million Instagram followers who has made a heartening amount of content celebrating lines, wrinkles and the natural aging process, posted a video with the caption: “All hail the upper bleph”.
“They’ve now started telling us that this piece of skin above our eyeball, that’s necessary to help us blink, is unattractive,” she says. “I mean really, they’re just pulling it out of their arses at this point.”
She reminds her followers that they have “other options”, and encourages them to spend the money they’ve saved for surgery on a trip to the beach instead. Her rallying cry should perhaps inspire us all: “Get your blephs out for the lads!”
And just remember: as with everything else in life, aesthetic fashions come and go. Why not hang onto your eyelid skin, sit back, and simply wait for the inevitable day that hooded eyes are a la mode once more? You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone, after all.