26 August 2026: For years, being visibly altered was often seen as fashionable – bigger lips, sharper cheekbones, and tighter faces communicated glamour, wealth, and desirability. But an unintended consequence of trends that always demand more is the noticeably unnatural results they produce somewhere down the line.
Professor Chrysis Sofianos, triple board-certified plastic surgeon and Academic Head of the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the University of the Witwatersrand, says that trend is beginning to reverse. Women are increasingly asking to look refreshed, rested, and more recognisably themselves rather than dramatically younger or distinctly different.
When media personality Nozipho Ntshangase recently revealed the results of a hybrid mini deep plane facelift, some people asked how a “facelift” could look so natural, having become used to the more exaggerated looks they’ve seen on television, social media, and in magazines.
Professor Sofianos explains, “A hybrid mini deep plane facelift is designed for people who are starting to see early to moderate signs of facial ageing but who don’t yet require the extent of correction offered by a full face-and-neck lift. The ‘mini’ refers to the extent of the procedure, not simply a smaller skin lift. We still lift in the deep plane, releasing and repositioning the deeper facial tissues, but this is performed over a more limited area of the face and does not extend into the neck. A full deep plane face-and-neck lift uses the same underlying principles but extends the deep plane dissection and lifting more broadly across the face and into the neck to address more advanced signs of ageing.”
He notes that a growing number of patients are coming to his practice asking about procedures like this that will restore a more youthful appearance, leave them refreshed, and more like themselves, but not lead to an unnatural look. “They want improvement, but they still want to look like themselves.”
Professor Sofianos says years of exaggerated volume, heavily sculpted features, filters, and edited imagery have made patients more aware of what they do not want. That shift is playing out internationally and here in South Africa, where several public figures have spoken openly about dissolving fillers or stepping back from previous cosmetic enhancements in favour of a more natural appearance.
“Patients are becoming much more specific about what they want, instead of simply pursuing a generally ‘enhanced’ appearance. They now want to look less tired, restore facial definition or address changes that come with age without losing their identity. This is a positive shift. The goal of a facelift shouldn’t be to make someone look like a different person, but to address the anatomical changes that have occurred while preserving the features that make that person recognisable.”
He says the same principle applies across aesthetic medicine. Some patients may benefit from improving skin quality or restoring volume, while others may require surgery where the underlying changes are structural.
Ntshangase’s willingness to share the unfiltered truth of her swelling, stitches, and recovery also challenged the polished before-and-after culture that often surrounds cosmetic procedures online. “People see the final photograph, but miss what the surgery, healing, and recovery processes involve. Showing that journey gives people a more realistic understanding of what treatment really is.”
Professor Sofianos believes the shift towards more natural results also speaks to a broader change in how women define beauty and ageing for themselves.
“There’s no single correct way for a woman to age. She can embrace every line, invest in her skin, consider a range of non-surgical treatments or choose to go the surgery route in whatever form she’s most comfortable with. What matters is that the decision is informed and appropriate for her.”
