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 BBL is back—undetectable and with a new name.
The Brazilian butt lift is staging a quiet comeback. How quiet? “We don’t even mention the word BBL,” says board-certified plastic surgeon Ryan Neinstein, MD of his New York City office. 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.”
