Top Surgeon Shares the Truth About Celebrities and Fillers: What You Need to Know

At the 2026 BAFTAs on Sunday, Kylie Jenner turned heads with a strikingly refreshed and youthful appearance.

The 28-year-old, who is a mother of two, seems to have opted for a more natural look by dissolving her fillers. Observers quickly pointed out that she now resembles her earlier self, reminiscent of her look before she began enhancing her lips during her late teens and early twenties.

Kylie isn’t alone in this trend; celebrities like Molly Mae Hague, Kristin Davis, and Ariana Grande have also embraced a more natural aesthetic by removing their fillers.

Despite fillers being intended to give a fuller, more youthful look to aging skin, many find themselves appearing fresher and younger without them.

In an analysis provided to the Daily Mail, Dr. Ross Perry, the Medical Director of Cosmedics skin clinics, examined the facial transformations of celebrities who have opted to go filler-free.

Read on to discover how it really affects your skin before you consider a round of injectables.

KYLIE JENNER

She’s been outspoken on her lip filler journey in recent years – but Kylie Jenner appears to have turned her back on the procedure in recent times (pictured before)

Kylie looked youthful as she posed alongside Timothee Chalamet at the BAFTAs on Sunday evening

Kylie Jenner first started getting dermal filler in her lips since as a teenager.

She admitted that she started because of ‘insecurity’ after a boy she liked told her her naturally thin lips were ‘unkissable’.

In 2018, she claimed she’d had all of her lip filler dissolved but she eventually had them injected again.

Kylie told HommeGirls in 2023, ‘It was the best thing I’ve ever done’.

However, in the past year or two she’s been reducing her lips again, saying that she’s inspired by her daughter to be more natural.  

‘My daughter looks like me. I get to see my beauty in her, and it’s made me love myself more for sure. Beauty is always changing for me,’ she said. 

Dr Perry: ‘In earlier images, Kylie appeared to have fuller lips and more mid-face volume, which can sometimes create a slightly heavier lower-face appearance, and this can be ageing. 

‘In more recent photographs, her features look softer and more proportionate, with less volume through the lips and cheeks, giving her an overall fresher and arguably more youthful look.’

DR PERRY’S VERDICT WITH FILLER: 32

DR PERRY’S VERDICT WITHOUT FILLER: 25

REAL AGE: 28

MOLLY-MAE HAGUE

Molly-Mae Hague previously said she looks five years younger after getting her fillers dissolved (pictured with filler in 2019)

Pictured: Molly-Mae Hague at the BAFTA Film Awards at The Royal Festival Hall in February last year

Molly-Mae previously admitted she didn’t recognise herself by the time she had reached the age of 21, having had a variety of cosmetic procedures done. 

In 2020 she started the process of having her fillers dissolved and said she was grateful she could ‘fix’ her face after overdoing it. 

She celebrated being ‘filler-free’ in 2024, explaining: ‘The other day I was actually having a moment of reflection on my filler journey and I realise I haven’t had filler now in coming up to five years, well over four years.

‘I haven’t had any filler put into my face which if you remember my filler debacle, my filler scandal it’s quite, not an achievement but it’s quite a journey to reflect on really. 

Dr Perry: ‘The increased lip and cheek volume previously gave Molly-Mae a more sculpted, “done” aesthetic, which can sometimes age someone in their early twenties.

‘Since reducing the filler, her features look softer and more youthful, with better facial balance.’

DR PERRY’S VERDICT WITH FILLER: 27

DR PERRY’S VERDICT WITHOUT FILLER: 22

REAL AGE: 26 

KRISTIN DAVIS 

Kristin Davis told the Telegraph in 2023 that she had received filler and later got it dissolved (pictured in New York, 2021)

Pictured: Actress Kristin Davis attending The New Group’s Gala at The Edison Ballroom in March, 2024

In 2023, the star of And Just Like That told The Telegraph that she’s been ‘ridiculed relentlessly’ about her use of fillers.

‘It’s hard to be confronted with your younger self at all times,’ Kristin told the outlet, admitting she’d had her lips plumped for the Sex And The City reboot in 2021. 

‘I have done fillers and it’s been good and I’ve done fillers and it’s been bad,’ Kristin admitted. ‘I’ve had to get them dissolved and I’ve been ridiculed relentlessly. And I have shed tears about it. It’s very stressful.’ 

Dr Perry: ‘Excess mid-face filler can blur natural contours and subtly age the face, her eyes looked more closed, which can be ageing.

‘In more recent appearances, with reduced volume, her features look more defined and refreshed, which gives a younger impression.’

DR PERRY’S VERDICT BEFORE FILLER: 59

DR PERRY’S VERDICT AFTER FILLER: 56

REAL AGE: 61 

ARIANA GRANDE

Ariana Grande admitted to Vogue in 2023 that she had a ‘ton of lip filler over the years and Botox’ (pictured in New York, 2018)

The singer and actress, who said she’s stopped getting filler, is pictured at the Wicked premiere in London last year

The Wicked star told Vogue Beauty Secrets in 2023 that she used to get ‘a ton’ of lip filler and Botox, but stopped in 2018 when she was 25 because it ended up being ‘too much’.

‘I just felt, like, hiding, you know,’ the singer, now 30, revealed. ‘For a long time, beauty was about hiding for me, and now I feel like maybe it’s not since I stopped getting fillers and Botox.’

Dr Perry: ‘Her earlier fuller lips and cheeks gave a more sculpted, mature look. In recent images, reduced volume makes her face appear slimmer and softer, a combination that typically reads as younger.’ 

DR PERRY’S VERDICT WITH FILLER: 29

DR PERRY’S VERDICT WITHOUT FILLER: 24

REAL AGE: 32 

MEGAN MCKENNA

Megan McKenna admitted in Closer that dissolving her lip filler has been one of the ‘best choices’ she has ever made (pictured in London, 2015)

Pictured: Former The Only Way is Essex star Megan McKenna at The Shard in London in July last year

Former TOWIE star Megan, now 33, stopped getting filler in her late 20s after putting her dramatic reality TV past behind her. 

‘It’s been hard. I had to have therapy and I had to have help,’ she admitted. 

‘I feel happier, more natural. It got to the point where my lips were the only thing people talked about when I was on TV. I wanted to be known for my voice not my trout pout.’

Dr Perry: ‘Heavier lip and cheek filler can draw attention to the centre of the face and create a slightly artificial fullness. 

‘With less volume, Megan’s natural bone structure is more visible, giving her a fresher and arguably younger overall look.’ 

DR PERRY’S VERDICT WITH FILLER: 31

DR PERRY’S VERDICT WITHOUT FILLER: 27

REAL AGE: 33 

COURTENEY COX

Friends star Courteney Cox told People that she settled on dissolving her facial filler in 2017 (pictured in London, 2016)

Pictured: Actress Courteney Cox at the US Open Tennis Championship in New York City last year

Courteney Cox says she was unable to recognize just how far she had gone with fillers during her efforts to turn back the clock as a young woman.

The Friends actress, now 61, described the vicious cycle she went through to maintain her looks during an appearance on the podcast Gloss Angeles and expressed regrets over getting the procedure done.

‘Thinking I was getting older when I was really young,’ she began. ‘That’s just a bummer, a waste of time; it’s a domino effect, it’s like you don’t realize that you look a little off, so then you keep doing more cause you look normal to yourself and you look in the mirror and go, “Oh, that looks good”,’ she said.

‘You don’t realize what it looks like to the outside person and just doing too many fillers and then having to have them removed, which thank god they are removable, but I think I messed up a lot and now luckily I can, I was able to reverse most of that, and now I’m actually just older.’

Dr Perry: ‘In the past, her increased cheek volume created a slightly overfilled effect, which can paradoxically add years.

‘Since dissolving, her face looks more natural and balanced, restoring a more youthful appearance.’

DR PERRY’S VERDICT WITH FILLER: 59

DR PERRY’S VERDICT WITHOUT FILLER: 54

REAL AGE: 61 

KHLOE KARDASHIAN

On a 2016 episode of Kocktails with Khloe, Khloe Kardashian said she had to ‘dissolve everything’ (pictured in Las Vegas, 2015)

The reality TV star said she was ‘afraid to do it [filler] again’ (pictured last year)

Talking to plastic surgeon Dr Terry Dubrow, of the TV show Botched, Khloe previously explained that her face was altered in an unattractive way by filler and she was ‘afraid’ to have it done again.

‘It did not work for me. I looked crazy, and I still think the effects are in there – I went to have it all dissolved like three times,’ she said.

Dr Perry: ‘Khloe’s pronounced lip and cheek enhancement previously gave a denser, more sculpted appearance that can age the face. 

‘With reduced fullness, her features appear fresher and more in keeping with her natural age.

‘What this demonstrates is that overfilling doesn’t equate to youth, in fact, it often has the opposite effect. 

‘Done correctly, however, fillers can be subtle and beautifully natural. For some people, carefully placed enhancements can refresh and rejuvenate the face without being noticeable at all, creating a look that’s balanced, lighter and genuinely youthful.’

DR PERRY’S VERDICT WITH FILLER: 39

DR PERRY’S VERDICT WITHOUT FILLER: 32

REAL AGE: 41