The plastic surgery trend is taking over Trump's inner circle

At Donald Trump's inauguration in January, his inner sanctum gathered in the US Capitol Rotunda. Among the guests were Melania Trump, Kristi Noem (the Homeland Security Secretary), and Lauren Sanchez (wife of Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos). As they stood metres from each other, it was hard not to notice the similarities. The women gleamed like the polished marble around them, their appearances unmistakably sculpted by the hands of modern cosmetic science.

- Kaleigh Werner, The Independent

They're not the only examples of a certain pinched look among the upper echelons of America’s right wing. In fact, the plastic surgery trend has become so prevalent that it has earned a nickname: Mar-a-Lago face.

Coined after Trump's famous Palm Beach resort — where the president spends much of his time in Florida golfing — the look is defined by nose jobs, face lifts, and an unholy amount of injectables. “It's the tiny little pixie nose and big lips,” Dr. Faryan Jalalabadi, a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon, tells The Independent. “The opposite of a natural face in which there's a delicate balance of proportions.” It’s all in the narrow eyes and elongated smile. It's Nicole Kidman, post-Stepford Wives.

But as Dr. Giselle Prado-Wright, a cosmetic surgeon in Fort Myers, Florida, explains, it’s not just in the “really tight, high cheekbone” but in the fact that the face is “a little bit overfilled.” People have been turning to plastic surgery in the hope of maintaining their youthfulness ever since the 1930s, when procedures were first coming into fashion. The tactics were invasive at the time, focusing mainly on the skin as opposed to the facial muscles, resulting in a more pulled visage and restricted expression. Think Joan Van Ark, Priscilla Presley, and Joan Rivers.