Meghan’s cosmetic tweaks, over the years

I used to work at a cosmetic clinic. Seeing the different types of aesthetic procedures always fascinated me.

The past decade has seen a boom in cosmetic tweaks. It used to be just celebrities, whose living depended on their appearance. Now, average people like you and me can go for an injection or surgery, just to achieve an archetypal standard of beauty.

Meghan would have had her share of these alterations, having grown up in Hollywood. I don’t have a problem with this - in fact, I think she’s pretty, though not “heart attack beautiful” - my issue has always been with her personality and actions towards others.

That said, I find it interesting to see the possible tweaks she’s had over the years, from the obvious (hair, nose) to the subtle (facial contouring).

It’s possible that her different faces are just due to weight loss or gain, makeup, and the natural process of ageing.

Still, sometimes you get a sense of something else, which you can’t put your finger on. Cosmetic procedures, when done well, aren’t supposed to be noticeable. They’re supposed to enhance your natural features, not turn you into someone else. A difference of only a few millimetres in your nose width or projection can change your profile. A good aesthetic practitioner will work with your face to make sure everything is harmonious and proportional.

Speaking of proportions, when planning the necessary procedures, plastic surgeons can map the face using the so-called Golden Ratio. This ratio is a classical Greek concept of how beautiful a face is based on the “ideal” widths and distances of one’s facial features.

This Golden Ratio was mentioned in a puff piece about Meghan calling her “the most beautiful Royal”. I believe this was because she had the necessary cosmetic refinements.

Unfortunately as we will see, beauty has a price, and we may regret having these procedures in the future.

Meghan’s mix of features from her parents

Just by looking at Meghan and her parents, she got most of her looks from Doria. Doria passed on her bone structure plus her dark brown, slightly upturned eyes and black curly hair. Meg got a mix of Doria’s nose and the Markle nose from Thomas, and a tan complexion blended from both parents.

As a teen, Meg look quite pretty and this was when she was planning to go into acting as a career.

Meg started straightening her hair in her teens

What’s most obvious from her childhood pictures are Meghan’s abundant black curls. Her photos at Immaculate Heart High School show that she started straightening her hair when she was 16 or 17 and she hasn’t looked back since.

There’s no issue with choosing to have straight hair. I have straight hair and I wish I have curls! Everyone wants what they don’t have. I think Meg should embrace her natural hair.

Meg fixed her gap tooth in her mid teens

A gap tooth or diastema is found in 25% of the population, mostly in those of African ancestry.

It’s not necessarily unattractive (Seal! Madonna!) but most celebs choose to close the gap (Arnie! Zac!). It can be done through bonding or veneers.

Maybe Meghan had the gap closed or it closed by itself. But more likely she had veneers. It’s a fairly common dental procedure especially for actors as they always have to smile for the cameras.

Veneer, vidi, vici

Many of us have noticed that Meg licks her lips and teeth a lot. It could mean a lot of things, but among others, some speculate that her veneers are too big.

Chest Champion

Around the time she was on Deal or no Deal in 2006-2007, Meghan apparently had breast implants. She did mention that they would use push-up bras on the show, but somehow I doubt her boobs were from stuffing her bra with socks.

Equally mysteriously, the mammaries disappeared by the time Meghan appeared on Suits.

There could be many reasons for removing breast implants, including infection, rupture or leakage of silicon.

Whatever the reason, Meg didn’t lose confidence in herself, sarcastically referring to her “magical boobs” in her anonymous blog “The Working Actress”.

Bunion and Babe

I’ve gone into much detail about Meghan’s foot surgeries on a previous post (https://www.reddit.com/r/SaintMeghanMarkle/s/sHd8atVVu2). It’s apparent she’s had her bunions ripped removed by the time she joined the RF in 2018. She’s also had her right second toe shortened around 2023. The “toe shortening” operation (which involves removing a bone or joint) requires several months of recovery, so maybe she had just one foot done first.

In this case the reasons are health related as much as for appearance, as having a longer second toe can cause corns and calluses due to poor shoe fit.

The Nose Knows

Meg likely had a rhinoplasty, as did probably 99% of Hollywood. A nose job is still the most common cosmetic surgery and for good reason: our schnozz is the most prominent part of our face.

Exactly what’s done for her is anyone’s guess. A rhinoplasty can involve nose bridge narrowing, tip enhancement (to make it less bulbous), and alar revision (to make nostrils less wide).

I think Meg had her nose shape changed to a slightly upturned button nose. It’s a common choice among women as it looks more cute and feminine.

Remember when she was said to be “the most beautiful Royal”? That was because of the proportions of her nose (among other things). I guess we can thank an anonymous surgeon in California for Meg’s golden ratio.

The Cheeky-Tweakie

A common procedure among starlets is buccal fat removal, or the removal of the fat from one’s cheeks. You might notice it in certain celebs (Lea Michele, Zoe Kravitz), and some have even admitted to it (Chrissy Teigen).

It’s a relatively quick procedure where the doctor cuts from inside the cheek to remove the fat. It gives you a hollowed-out look and your cheekbones appear more well defined.

It seems that Meghan had her buccal fat removed. She used to have a slightly round face which became thinner and concave later on.

This can be attributed simply to losing one’s baby fat, but if you look closely, her cheeks sink a little whenever she speaks.

Buccal fat surgery gives you that chiseled look without having to suck in your cheeks, but as you grow older, you might appear more gaunt and the skin could sag. More on this later on.

Cheek-Fill-A

More than ten years ago I asked about buccal fat removal, as I hated my chubby cheeks. The surgeon advised to keep them as I might regret it when I’m older.

Now I’m glad I didn’t, because despite nearing fifty, people assume I’m much younger because of my baby face.

Buccal fat surgery is irreversible, so the only way to plump up the cheeks would be to inject fillers.

This might explain why Meghan’s face changes a lot, because she might require dermal injections once or twice a year to maintain the youthful contours of her face.

Speaking of contours, Meghan might have had a few well-placed fillers to sculpt her profile.

Meghan already has distinct cheekbones, which is a desirable feature. However, if you look at her earlier pictures, she has a more prominent midface, compared to much later.

Dermal injections can give the appearance of higher cheekbones, which is conventionally considered more attractive. Or did she also have something else?

Does Meghan have facial implants?

I remember seeing a budding actress getting a chin implant. She already had a delicate, heart-shaped face, but adding a tiny implant to her chin made it even more so. The change was very subtle, you can’t tell from the front, but from the side she had a daintily pointy chin which made her profile even more feminine.

Nowadays you can have a gamut of facial implants to look like a Greek god or goddess - just browse any Turkish cosmetic website. There are implants to give you higher cheekbones, a more angular jaw, or a v-shaped chin.

I’m not sure if Meghan would have had any of these procedures, as she already has a well-defined jaw, chin, and cheekbones. She could have just simply lost weight, or used makeup to highlight her bone structure.

Still, I wonder sometimes especially when I see her chin jutting out more than usual. She also seems to have higher cheekbones in her early thirties.

Plump Up The Volume (of Your Lips)

Most of the time I don’t think Meghan needs lip fillers. She already has a nice Cupid’s bow, all she has to do is apply some lipstick.

Still, everyone has lip injections nowadays and I’ve often noticed her kisser looking slightly more pouty than usual on various outings.

Botox the Talk

Hollywood celebrities probably have Botox as often and as casually as we go to the supermarket.

Botox injections smooth out wrinkles by paralysing small muscles in your face.

Meg is a much photographed person so sometimes you can tell when she’s had a few injections to smooth out those lines, in addition to some judiciously positioned fillers.

The Knife Lifts Us Up Where We Belong

I hesitate to say whether Meghan has had a face lift. Sometimes face lifts are pretty obvious - you notice someone’s eyes looking pointier, or asymmetrical, and the skin is tight across their temples. A good face lift should be unnoticeable. One must give it time to heal, at least a month.

There are periods when Meghan is away from the public eye, so it’s possible to have had a cosmetic procedure in that amount of time.

In her recent outing at the LA Children’s hospital charity gala, some thought Meg’s face looked elongated. Could it be she’s had a brow lift, which could elevate the hairline a little bit? Or did she just have a different hairstyle on that day? Your guess is as good as mine.

A Brow-mance

During her early 20s, Meg had very thin, plucked eyebrows, as was the trend.

Later she allowed her eyebrows to grow naturally, and she probably maintains them through trimming and appropriate makeup.

Sometimes her eyebrow height looks different, which could be due to botox injections around the orbicularis oculi muscle (which helps close the eyelids and lower the eyebrows). Injecting Botox at the edges of the muscle can elevate the arch of the brows, giving her a more wide-eyed look.

In one particular picture with a fan, Meghan’s eyebrows looked rather bushy, making some think she had an eyebrow transplant.

Status: it’s complicated

Beauty has a price. If I had buccal fat removal ten years ago, I’d probably be needing fillers now to keep my face from sagging.

Meg needs to have regular injections to maintain her facial contours. I think I’d rather age gracefully. But it seems Meghan’s fans are on the side of the cosmetics industry as they’re always slagging Catherine for looking her age. Goes to show how superficial these people can be!

Apart from that, these injections are not risk free.

Injecting into the wrong area can lead to one or both eyes drooping, which I observed in Meghan’s video where she reads her book aloud.

Face lifts or massive weight loss can result in platysmal bands, which are those prominent cords you see in Meghan’s neck. Botox injections can relax these bands for a softer look.

Botox on the forehead, or brow lifts, can also cause the veins to bulge. This might have caused Meghan’s prominent x-shaped veins on her forehead (which our sub fondly calls “Dave the vein”).

Gravity is not very kind to our looks. The loss of skin tone causes our face to sag. In Meg’s case, the tip of her nose seems a bit droopy, which is consistent with her having had surgery to it with cartilage added on.

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There’s no shame in going for cosmetic procedures, whether you’re a public figure or just an average Jane/Joe. One just has to be aware that these procedures have risks and complications. One also needs to keep undergoing these tweaks just to maintain an idealistic version of ourselves.

At the end of the day, it’s our character that matters. It’s why I don’t think Meghan is an attractive person despite all the aesthetic alterations she’s done. No amount of Botox or fillers can hide an evil soul.