Hit ITV show Love Island returned to TV on Monday, welcoming a host of popular former contestants to the South African villa.
But fans were quick to accuse their favourites of looking worlds away from when they were last on our screens.
On social media, some quipped that they ‘barely recognise’ the stars, with others even adding it was ‘such a shame they feel they need to do this [have cosmetic treatments]’.
‘Gabby has completely done up her face. I don’t recognise her,’ one wrote.
‘Gabby’s face is completely different, I didn’t even clock it was her,’ another said.
But the series 3 finalist wasn’t the only contestant under fire.
Experts have now weighed in, suggesting that the ‘all star’ cast bear the hallmarks of a range of procedures like breast augmentations, nose jobs and filler injected into the chin, lips and cheeks — and some may have been ‘overdone’.
Mr Kshem Yapa, a London-based consultant plastic surgeon specialising in facial surgery and rhinoplasty, told MailOnline many have had ‘overfilled lips’ and have ‘overdone the chin filler to try and create a strong jawline’.
‘I think some of them potentially have been overdone,’ he said.
‘The defined jawline is a trend among many Love Island stars.
‘But injecting filler in this part of the face can result in an “overfilled” look in the lower half of the face.
‘You have to look at the relationship of the chin to the nose and to the lips. Just focusing on one anatomical area is a mistake.’
‘There isn’t a prescribed volume of filler, for example, that you should put in a particular location, but the duck lip appearance happens because people often don’t understand natural facial proportions.
‘For instance, is not normal for the top lip to be bigger than the bottom lip, but often clients ask for both lips to “match”. When done this way it can look unusual.’
He added: ‘Procedures shouldn’t be based on trends. They have lasting effects.’
Fillers — typically injections of collagen or hyaluronic acid — are offered in beauty clinics for as little as £75.
While purported to last for around 18 months, MRI scans have shown filler can migrate and stick around in areas of the face years after they were set to dissolve.
Dermatologists have also previously warned that excess facial filler in younger people ‘can often look unnatural’.
Fillers can be dissolved by an enzyme called hyaluronidase.
However, this can cause allergic reactions in a small number of people, and doesn’t always work, Mr Yapa cautioned.
‘I see patients that have had fillers from a very young age and they get to a stage where they feel overfilled and they have to have that dissolved,’ he added.
‘There are consequences to overdoing things too early on. Of course, celebrities on TV might do this.
‘But there is a downside to it and less is more should be the way forward.
‘Needing to dissolve it can create a vicious circle, where patients are committing themselves to further treatments later down the line.’
‘The problem with fillers is that it is not a very well regulated industry. It is not seen as a medical device and it doesn’t require a nurse or a doctor to administer it.
‘Understanding facial anatomy is important. Risks such as clogging blood vessels, overfilling, having reactions to it have been well publicised.’
Mr Amer Hussain, a plastic surgeon at Pall Mall Medical also told MailOnline that lip filler, when overdone, looks ‘exaggerated or puffy and is not the subtle enhancement cosmetic procedures set out to achieve’.
‘It’s crucial to tailor treatments or procedures to each person’s unique features and finding a look that feels authentic’, he added.
Last year one US plastic surgeon came under fire on TikTok for guessing four of the 2024 summer Love Island contestant’s ages.
Dr Daniel Barrett, who is based in Beverly Hills, estimated that each was over the age of 32. All were aged between 24 and 26.
‘Plastic surgery and injectables done incorrectly can make you look older,’ he said.
Surgeons have also previously told MailOnline of the rise in younger women needing facelift surgery, because their looks had been ‘ruined’ by years of having filler injections.
Commenting on the Love Island All Star contestants today, other cosmetic experts said they suspect many have undergone Botox, nose jobs, breast enhancements and even body contouring.
Gabby Allen, 32, has spoken candidly about her struggles with body confidence and undergoing breast augmentation surgery — including a corrective procedure — since her initial appearance on Love Island in 2017.
But lipedema specialist and plastic surgeon Dr Jafar Jorjani suggested she has also had filler in her chin and lips as well as Botox and jawline filler to ‘contour her jaw’.
Anti-wrinkle injections like Botox relax the muscles in the face to smooth out lines and wrinkles.
Fan favourite Ekin-Su, meanwhile, has spoken about her decision to have a breast augmentation, as well as dental veneers, tear trough (under the eye), cheek, jaw and lip filler — and documenting the process on Instagram.
Mr Hussain also told MailOnline that her nose used to have ‘a broader bridge and tip, while more recently, it looks slimmer and more refined’, either the work of a non-surgical nose job or rhinoplasty.
A rhinoplasty, commonly referred to as a nose job, involves an operation either performed from inside the nostrils — a closed rhinoplasty — or by making a small cut on the nose.
By breaking and repositioning the side nasal bone, a surgeon can also reduce the width of the nose and achieve a narrower appearance.
A non-surgical nose job meanwhile works by using injectable fillers to contour and reshape the nose.
‘This non-invasive procedure can smooth out bumps, refine the tip, or narrow the bridge, creating a more balanced look without the need for surgery,’ Dr Hussain said.
‘Techniques like Vaser liposuction could have been used to sculpt her figure, particularly in areas that are hard to tone through diet and exercise alone.
‘She may have also had a blepharoplasty, or eyelid surgery, a procedure that gently lifts and refreshes the eye area.’
Dr Gina Schulman, an aesthetic doctor at CREO Clinic in London, also suggested she had undergone Botox, a non-surgical rhinoplasty as well as ‘face treatments such as laser skin resurfacing and radiofrequency micro needling’.
Love Island series 5 contestant, Elma Pazar, is also rumoured to have had a rhinoplasty, Botox and breast augmentation.
‘With a skilled surgeon, the results of such surgery can look very natural and complement her overall silhouette’, Mr Hussain said.
Tweakments, however, have not been limited to Love Island’s female contestants.
Fans have suggested series 2 star Scott Thomas has undergone Botox or filler since his appearance on the show nine years ago.
In 2016 he admitted on Instagram to having Botox but to prevent hyperhidrosis — a condition that causes sufferers to experience excessive perspiration.
The temporary treatment promises to reduce excessive sweating after Botox disables the sweat glands.
Last year, the ‘Love Island effect’ was blamed for a ‘dramatic increase’ in the number of women, often young, seeking to have cosmetic surgery.
In 2019, then-health minister Jackie Doyle-Price also warned Love Island was fuelling a boom in demand for cut-price cosmetic surgery across the UK.
‘If people want to change aspects of their appearance that is fine, but they need to understand that all these procedures come with risk,’ she said.
One 2018 study that showed that London‘s Chelsea and Westminster Hospital has treated 12 patients with infected fillers in a year, at a cost of £40,000 to the NHS.
