The latest season of Love Island brought more than just romance and reality TV drama to the screen, it elicited an uncanny valley feeling as viewers started noticing something strange among female contestants:
They all looked the same.
They all looked the same.
With non-expressive faces, inflated lips, jawlines and cheekbones sculpted to near-geometric perfection, the end result went from appealing—to eerie.
Highlights
- The 'Love Island face' trend features same-looking women due to heavy dermal filler use.
- Experts say social media filters fuel the trend by promoting idealized features like big lips, impossibly smooth skin and fox eyes.
- Experts warn fillers were meant for aging loss, not young skin, and overuse can cause 'filler blindness' and unnatural results in real life.
Now dubbed “Love Island face”, the look is characterized by heavy reliance on dermal fillers and Botox. Far from delivering eternal youth, medical professionals are already warning of the trend’s troubling consequences.
Viewers were put off by Love Island participants’ overuse of dermal fillers, which left them all looking similar
Image credits: m-art/stock.adobe.com (Not the actual photo)
For many specialists, the culprit behind everyone looking the same is clear: social media.
Platforms flooded with filtered selfies and influencer beauty standards have fueled a wave of patients chasing an identical checklist: big lips, pulled-back faces, small noses, and angular, “fox eye” shapes.
Platforms flooded with filtered selfies and influencer beauty standards have fueled a wave of patients chasing an identical checklist: big lips, pulled-back faces, small noses, and angular, “fox eye” shapes.
Image credits: Andrii/stock.adobe.com (Not the actual photo)
“I believe that social media is solely responsible for this trend, as filters often create a ‘fox eye’ appearance on influencers and celebrities,” explained Dr. John Lake, a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon.
Image credits: Kim Nunneley/Peacock
At the same time, board-certified surgeon Dr. Angela Sturm explained that these procedures are designed to look good in photos, but that the same couldn’t be said of real life.
“It’s like makeup. Certain looks may look OK in pictures, but not look natural in person or on video,” she said.
“It’s like makeup. Certain looks may look OK in pictures, but not look natural in person or on video,” she said.
Image credits: vannaeinerson
What makes the trend more troubling, experts say, is that its target audience is overwhelmingly young adults who still have full skin elasticity, strong bone structure, and no natural volume loss to correct.
For Sturm, the younger the patient is, the more susceptible they are to a phenomenon called “filler blindness,” which causes them to not recognize when they’ve overdone it.
Overuse and the exposure to black market materials makes dermal fillers a risky alternative for younger patients
Dr. Kristina Liu, a dermatologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, explained that dermal fillers were originally developed to replenish lost volume caused by the natural aging process.
Image credits: hudabubbaaa
“Over time, age-related bone loss in the face can lead to retraction of the jawline, descent of the nose, and loss of high cheekbones.”
“The facial muscles also decrease in volume and elasticity, and deflation and movement of facial fat further accentuates the signs of aging,” she explained.
Image credits: iriskendall
The injections were therefore intended for mature patients or individuals who had lost facial structure due to accidents, and thus not recommended for people whose facial fat, muscle and bone structure are still intact.
However, under the pressures of social media and constant self-scrutiny, younger and younger patients are opting for fillers—often years, if not decades, before they would ever naturally need them.
Image credits: Ben Symons/Peacock
While Liu recognized that fillers can be safe and effective, she stressed the importance of avoiding black market alternatives.
“Dermal filler procedures can be expensive, which has prompted some consumers to turn to the online black market to purchase do-it-yourself fillers,” she explained.
“They contain a variety of nonsterile substances, such as hair gel. When injected, these substances can cause allergic reactions, infections, and the death of skin cells.”
People are now looking for safer alternatives to dermal fillers
Yet as overfilled cheeks and “pillow face” flood social media, a counter-movement is gaining momentum.
While filler still has its loyalists, fatigue with the look—and concern over its side effects—is pushing more people toward a softer, less invasive approach.
Image credits: Yakobchuk Olena/stock.adobe.com (Not the actual photo)
“The days of patients coming in for big lips are long gone,” said dermatologist Dr. Dhaval Bhanusali in a 2024 interview. “Instead, we’re in the ‘just enough where I notice but no one else does’ era.”
Image credits: kamiparsamd
Demand is also rising for alternatives like microneedling, platelet-rich plasma therapy, and noninvasive skin-tightening treatments that stimulate collagen production without altering facial structure.
Some of the first signs of fillers not being the ultimate youth hack arose in 2023, after the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) unveiled the concerning results of a study done by a US research team.
Image credits: kamiparsamd
The study found that a staggering 80% of patients presented an increase in intra-operative anatomical distortion due to the use of fillers in facelift patients.
“Our surgeons have seen filler lasting longer than expected, well over a year in many cases,” BAAPS President Marc Pacifico said.
“Many have noted that anatomical structures are certainly more tethered and scarred when fillers have previously been used.”
"I'm 40 and I look younger." Viewers were put-off by the so-called "Love Island face" trend
