Plastic surgeon warns of strange trend in cosmetic procedures: ‘I would never recommend it’

Beauty lovers are up to their ears in fillers.

A US-based plastic surgeon has warned against a popular cosmetic procedure as more people face the harsh reality of fillers after years of injecting them everywhere from their behinds to their ears.

Ear fillers have become a fashionable option, particularly in Asia where the technique originated, for patients looking to make their faces look smaller or fix drooping earlobes — but the procedure is not without risks.

Dermatology Dr. Jenny Liu recently revealed to followers on social media that ear filling has become one of the most popular requests from patients in China and South Korea, according to one of her colleagues in China.

The procedure for getting these elf ears usually involves injecting hyaluronic acid, which is often used in dermal fillers, into the ears to plump them up. Others place a piece of cartilage behind the ear to prop it forward so that they are visible from the front view.

“In addition to the lifting effect, it actually brings out your ear and it creates a smaller face because in Asia the trend is about having a smaller face,” said Dr. Liu explained in a video on Instagram.

Protruding ears are also traditionally considered a symbol of good luck in China.

The look is so desired that many Asian beauty shops even sell elf ear tape, which is used as a temporary method to achieve the look.

Interest in this aesthetic has likely been influenced by big K-pop stars like Haerin, a member of South Korea’s biggest girl group NewJeans, who is known for her elfin features.

However, this procedure is different from the one used to give people pointy ears to look like mythical creatures.

And that’s not where or why most people in America are looking for the procedure.

“The use of filler to reshape the upper ear—especially around the spiral lip—is not commonly performed in the United States,” Beverly Hills-based surgeon Dr. Deepak Dugar told the Daily Mail.

He warned that the procedure can be dangerous for some patients and lead to “cauliflower ear”, a condition in which the ear becomes permanently misshapen and swollen after a blood clot or fluid collection develops under the skin.

“In my opinion, doing filler on the top and side of the ear is extremely dangerous and I personally would never recommend this to my patients,” said the expert.

Instead, Dr. Dugar shared that his patients seek ear fillers for a different look.

He explained, “Ear filling in the US is usually performed on the lower earlobe, it is used to re-volumize aging ears to prevent a wrinkled or droopy appearance.”

“Sometimes we also use fillers in the lower earlobe to strengthen the area under the ear piercing to keep it strong and prevent it from sagging with heavy earrings.”

That’s exactly what Brielle Biermann claimed her mother, Real Housewives of Atlanta star Kim Zolciak, did. “My mom gets fillers in her ears because her diamond earrings are too heavy… #richpeopleproblems,” she tweeted in 2018.

But we’ll have to keep our ears peeled to see if people keep asking for theirs after plastic surgeons declared 2025 “the year of the great deflation”.

In what has now been dubbed the “De-Kardashian-ification of America” ​​— a reference to the infamous curves displayed by the A-list family — aesthetic patients are now reversing their BBLs, ditching the implants and dispensing with the injections in favor of a thinner, more. natural build, a stark contrast to the once fashionable caricature of the female form.