Could you guess which cosmetic surgery procedures someone has had, simply by looking at their face?
In a bid to put his expert eagle eyes to the test, top plastic surgeon Dr Gary Linkov set himself that exact challenge.
The New York-based cosmetic specialist was presented with seven strangers – three women and four men – and asked to give his verdict.
‘It’s going to be embarrassing how wrong I’m going to be,’ Dr Linkov says nervously in a video documenting the challenge, before he meets each participant for a one-on-one assessment.
First up, he meets a blonde lady called Ani. He starts by looking at her hairline, as he also specializes in hair transplants, but he says it ‘all looks very natural here’.
Next, he makes the woman raise her eyebrows and make an angry face to look for signs of Botox.
Judging from her lack of wrinkles, he suspects she might have had ‘baby Botox’ – a term used when smaller amounts of the solution are used for subtler results, as a preventative way to prevent aging.
He also guesses she has had upper blepharoplasty, also known as an eyelid lift, which removes excess skin and raises hooded or droopy eyelids.
Could you guess which cosmetic surgery procedures someone has had, simply by looking at their face? In a bid to put his expert eagle eyes to the test, top plastic surgeon Dr Gary Linkov set himself that exact challenge
As he spots a small scar on the part of her nose that separates the nostrils, he guesses that Ani has had a nose job, and from a final assessment of her face, he adds lip filler, cheek filler, and possible liposuction under the chin into the mix.
Later in the video, Ani confirms she has had a nose job, Botox and she has also had filler placed in her cheeks, under the eyes, in her jawline and in the lips.
However, Dr Linkov was wrong about the eyelid lift.
As he moves on to the other participants, it becomes clear how difficult it is to assess what work people have had done – even for an expert.
Dr Linkov guesses one of the other female participants, a young brunette lady called Juliet, has had an eyelid lift and lip fillers, but it turns out that she is the only one of the group to have had nothing done.
And he goes on to deem the other female, Kate, as ‘all natural’ when she later reveals that she had had filler in her upper lip, which he did not detect.
The other participant Dr Linkov says is ‘all natural’ is music video director Evan, but it later transpires that he has had two eyelid lifts to remedy a problem he was born with, which prevented him from opening one of his eyes properly.
He explains: ‘The doctors actually removed a muscle out of my leg and surgically put it into my eyelid to help with my vision [and to] help my eyes look a little more even… it was a corrective surgery.’
LEFT: Ani turned out to have had the most procedures of the group with a nose job, Botox and fillers placed in her cheeks, under the eyes, in her jawline and in the lips RIGHT: Matt confirms that he has had Botox and filler in his cheeks, lips and chin
LEFT: It turned out Juliet was the only one in the group to have had no procedures carried out RIGHT: While Dr Linkov thought Kate might be ‘all natural’, she revealed that she had actually had filler in her upper lip
After Evan, a man named Cervantes is one of the other men who has had one of the more extreme procedures carried out.
While Dr Linkov thought he had had maybe had a little bit of filler placed in the jawline for a more defined look, Cervantes reveals that he actually had buccal fat removal six months ago.
Buccal fat removal has become a hot procedure over recent years to achieve a more chiseled look.
The procedure involves removing fat pads from inside the cheeks, giving them a more angular face as a result.
Explaining what happened during his surgery, which he said he was awake for under local anesthesia, Cervantes says: ‘It was like a 20-minute procedure, they slice [the cheeks] open [and] they pull out the fat.’
Along with Ali, the other participant Dr Linkov assesses most correctly is Matt.
During his assessment, the surgeon guesses he has had Botox, a possible nose job, and filler in the cheeks and lips.
Later Matt confirms that he has had Botox and filler in the places Dr Linkov guessed, but he also says he has it in the chin.
However, he reveals that his nose is in fact natural, and he has not had rhinoplasty.
LEFT: Hassan tells Dr Linkov he just had a touch of filler in the lower lip for a ‘subtle’ boost. RIGHT: Cervantes reveals that he had buccal fat removal six months ago to slim down his face
The other participant he says is ‘all natural’ is a young Asian film director named Evan, but it later transpires that he has had two eyelid lifts to remedy a problem he was born with which prevented him from opening his eye properly
The final participant is a personal trainer and actor named Hassan.
While Dr Linkov thought he had maybe had some filler in the cheeks, Hassan actually reveals he just had a touch of filler in the lower lip for a ‘subtle’ boost.
Concluding the challenge, the plastic surgeon says that he thinks all of the participants look ‘super natural’ and they ‘haven’t overdone it’.
He adds: ‘As I say, the best plastic surgery or cosmetic procedures they should whisper, not scream.
‘I think that’s great it’s all about feeling confident whether with or without plastic surgery.’
