DC plastic surgeons see wave of Trump insiders asking for procedures to get the ‘Mar-a-Lago face’: report
Mar-a-Lago is heading to D.C. as MAGA world’s desire to replicate the president’s inner-circle’s famous look book has flooded local plastic surgeons with business.
After President Donald Trump returned to office in January, plastic surgeons across Washington, D.C., have seen a spike in patients seeking bolder, more obvious cosmetic work, to achieve what one doctor called a “Mar-a-Lago face,” according to Axios.
When it comes to the 79-year-old president, bigger and flashier is better — even if it comes off as tacky to others, as his recent additions of bright gold trim and finishings to the White House have proven.
Trump insiders have applied that maximalism to their cosmetic procedures, with many opting for big Botox-filled lips, taut foreheads and plump, pointed cheeks. However, that less natural look wasn’t always in style, according to plastic surgeon Troy Pittman.
Washington insiders used to ask for subtle cosmetic work that wouldn’t appear obvious to outsiders, Pittman told Axios, adding, “Now, we’re seeing people who want to look like they had something done.”
While the crowd before Trump’s second term was more low-key and natural, Pittman says the new aesthetic of the “Palm Beach crowd” is much flashier and over-the-top. The phrase “Mar-a-Lago face” itself comes from Trump’s Palm Beach resort, but is now akin to nose jobs, face lifts and all the Botox in the world.
Unlike the older crowd of politicians and insiders, these MAGA patients are openly discussing their procedures and swapping surgeon recommendations, Pittman added.
The most popular treatments among this crowd are lip fillers and wrinkle treatments like Botox and Dysport, Pittman said.
While some D.C. plastic surgeons have certainly benefited from the surge of outlandish procedures being done, others, like surgeon Anita Kulkarni, told Axios they have turned away new political clients asking for “a more done look, like that Mar-a-Lago face.”
Kulkarni said that these requests didn’t match her practice’s more understated vibe, and that some people had requested work that would potentially be dangerous – like fillers or injections on top of faces already full of Botox.
Getting too much work done can cause patients to end up with what Kulkarni calls “filler blindness,” a phenomenon where someone who has already undergone several procedures but is surrounded by others who also undergone extensive work grows blind to their true appearance.
“You lose sight of anatomic normalcy,” Kulkarni said.
Kulkarni said such a dramatic shift in procedures wasn’t a thing during Trump’s first term, possibly because “there were more establishment Republicans in the mix,” she said.
Popular procedures tend to vary from place to place, and its common for people in South Florida – where many MAGA insiders call home – to get more work done than elsewhere.
Plastic surgeon Navin Singh agreed, telling Axios that more of his male politico clientele are Republicans than Democrats, and many come from more surgery-forward states like Texas.
The MAGA men getting work done are looking for procedures to make them appear “younger” and “more virile and masculine,” Pittman said, which reflects Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s recent focus on military fitness and appearances.
