A dermatologist predicts 2025’s biggest trends in anti-aging and beauty

By Alpana Mohta, MD, DNB, FEADV, FIADVL, IFAAD | Fact-checked by Barbara Bekiesz

Published February 10, 2025

Key Takeaways

Industry Buzz

“[Winged procedures] can be done in the office [and] are dramatic in terms of results… when I say winged I mean lifted, contoured—not a ton of downtime and not a lot of scarring… It’s going to be an exciting year for aesthetics.” — Prem Tripathi, MD

Find more of your peers' perspectives and insights below.

Beauty trends are hard to follow—what’s popular one week may fall out of fashion the next. Remember “Instagram face”? This term has been used in the past few years to describe popular dermatologic and surgical trends that have led to a generation of people with similar faces, featuring full lips, high cheekbones, and cat-like eyes.

But the early days of 2025 have shown a shift toward a more natural look, featuring minimal and natural enhancements. Think of celebrities like Lindsay Lohan and Christina Aguilera, who recently returned to the spotlight looking… a little bit different than they used to, sparking endless speculation and debate: "What did she have done?"

In truth, achieving these understated yet refined looks relies on advanced technology and precise techniques, combining injectables, surgery, and non-surgical interventions.

Here, board-certified dermatologist Alpana Mohta, MD, DNB, IFAAD, shares expectations for 2025’s top trends in anti-aging and beauty.

All things 'winged'

Following over a decade of dominance by Botox for eyebrow lifts, the focus is now shifting to surgical winged eyelid lifts for a more permanent and defined result. This procedure, inspired by the looks of celebrities like Ariana Grande, involves the surgical modification of the lateral canthal region to achieve a more almond-shaped eye. This procedure combines the traditional blepharoplasty with lateral canthoplasty and muscle tightening to enhance the lateral canthal angle.

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A minimally invasive variant of eyelifts, called MINEL (minimally invasive eyelid lift), addresses eyelid hooding without skin removal by shifting the crease to a higher level through small incisions.^[]

Step aside, fillers

A shift from volumizing fillers to surgical lip lifts is emerging, aiming for a more defined and youthful lip contour with minimal downtime. The lip lift involves the excision of a small strip of skin beneath the nasal columella, resulting in an increased vermilion show and a more pronounced Cupid's bow.

This approach addresses the elongation of the philtrum that occurs with aging, providing a permanent enhancement compared to temporary fillers. A non-surgical variant of lip-lifts called ‘lip-flip’ is also becoming increasingly popular. This involves the injection of botulinum toxin along the oral commissures and the vermilion border.

Step aside, fillers

Minimally invasive laser treatments, like carbon peels and Q-switched Nd:YAG lasers, offer visible results with quick recovery periods. With minimal epidermal disruption, these procedures can improve skin texture, tone, pigmentation, and remodeling of collagen. Resurfacing with CO2 laser and Er:YAG laser can offer even more dramatic improvements, with a slightly longer downtime.

'Glass skin’ is (still) in

Microneedling, HIFU, MnRF, and exosome therapy remain staples for skin rejuvenation, but Sofave therapy, recently spotlighted by Bryan Johnson, is set to dominate in 2025.

This non-invasive treatment uses low-intensity, unfocused acoustic waves to boost collagen and elastin, enhancing skin elasticity with minimal discomfort. Unlike HIFU, which targets deeper layers like the SMAS (up to 4.5 mm) for lifting and collagen remodeling, Sofwave focuses on gentle, regenerative rejuvenation. HIFU addresses significant sagging, while Sofwave offers a subtler alternative.

Rejuran therapy, using polydeoxyribonucleotides (PDRN) derived from salmon DNA, is expected to gain traction in 2025. Applied topically with microneedling for absorption, it boosts collagen, improves hydration, reduces fine lines, and enhances skin texture, delivering a "glass skin" effect.

Post-Ozempic treatments

Plastic surgeons have noted an increase in patients requesting fat grafting following their use of semaglutide for weight loss, to address volume depletion in areas such as the face, breasts, and body.

The procedure involves harvesting adipose tissue from donor sites via liposuction, processing it, and reinjecting it into target areas to restore fullness and contour.^[]

Facial fat grafting, especially, has become popular as a natural-looking alternative to hyaluronic acid–based fillers. Research on the long-term outcome of autologous fat grafting for the face is still limited, but some recent reports suggest that the procedure is on par with the results achieved with standard hyaluronic acid fillers.^[]^[]