Adriana Lima has sparked fresh reactions with her dramatically changed appearance. Plastic surgeons explain what may be behind her striking new look.
Adriana Lima has once again left fans talking about her appearance after stepping out at Madrid Fashion Week looking strikingly different from the way she did just a few years ago.
The Brazilian supermodel, 45, attended the closing party at the Reina Sofía Museum on Friday, where she turned heads in a sophisticated black backless dress.
With her sculpted arms on display and her hair pulled tightly into a sleek ponytail, Lima also appeared to have more defined cheekbones and a sharper jawline.
The latest appearance quickly sparked a wave of reactions online, with longtime followers saying the model looked remarkably similar to her Victoria’s Secret years.
Lima was one of the lingerie brand’s most recognizable Angels, holding the role from 2000 until 2018.
During that period, she became known internationally for her distinctive facial features, defined cheekbones and signature runway appearance.
Her latest look has drawn particular attention because it follows a period when fans and social media users were intensely focused on changes to her face.
In November 2023, Lima appeared at the Los Angeles premiere of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, prompting widespread online speculation about her appearance.
Some commenters claimed she looked almost unrecognizable compared with earlier photographs.
Lima responded directly to the criticism at the time, sharing a makeup-free selfie and addressing the comments about her face.
“This is the face of a tired mom,” she wrote while describing the demands of raising her children and caring for three dogs.
“Thanks for your concern,” she added.
The model has now found herself back in the spotlight, but the reaction to her latest appearance has been markedly different.
Many longtime fans praised the way she looked at Madrid Fashion Week, with some suggesting she had returned to the appearance associated with her Victoria’s Secret era.
One social media user wrote that Lima had endured criticism at what they described as her lowest point before returning to the public eye with a dramatically different look.
Another fan simply declared that she was “back to the Victoria’s Secret era,” while others were even more surprised by the transformation.
Some commenters went as far as claiming that the woman pictured looked like “a completely different person,” while another questioned whether it was Lima at all.
The renewed speculation prompted experts to examine the latest photographs and offer possible explanations for the change.
Dr. Frank Agullo, a board-certified plastic surgeon in El Paso, Texas, said Lima now appears much closer to the way she looked during her Victoria’s Secret career.
Agullo, who has not treated Lima, pointed specifically to her cheekbones, jawline and lips.
He noted that her face appeared to have “high, defined cheekbones,” a visible hollow beneath the cheekbones and a sharper jawline, while her lips looked natural rather than excessively enhanced.
However, the surgeon said he did not believe the photographs showed obvious evidence of facial surgery.
Instead, Agullo suggested that changes in weight could be responsible for much of the difference.
He also raised the possibility that Lima may have had previous facial filler dissolved and may have undergone radiofrequency treatment designed to tighten the skin.
“From the photos, it doesn’t look like a face that has had surgery,” Agullo said, describing it instead as a face that may have lost additional volume and therefore revealed more of the underlying facial structure.
New York City-based Dr. Masoud Saman reached a similar conclusion after looking at Lima’s latest photographs.
Saman acknowledged that factors such as lighting and makeup can substantially change the way facial features appear in photographs.
However, he said that if he had to make an assessment based solely on the images, he would suspect that Lima had undergone significant filler dissolution.
He added that he saw no clear evidence of facial surgery.
The comments highlight how dramatically facial appearance can change without necessarily involving a surgical procedure.
Weight fluctuations, makeup techniques, lighting, skin treatments and changes in injectable fillers can all affect how prominent features such as cheekbones and jawlines appear.
Another plastic surgeon, Dr. Riaz Agha, consultant plastic and reconstructive surgeon at Harley Clinic Group, discussed the broader distinction between fillers and surgical procedures.
Agha explained that dermal fillers can be used to restore lost volume and enhance facial contours, but adding volume does not necessarily lift sagging skin.
For people with significant skin laxity, he said facelift surgery can reposition underlying tissues and remove excess skin, potentially improving the appearance of jowls and defining the jawline.
He stressed that this process is different from simply pulling the skin tighter.
Agha also pointed out that different treatments address different concerns.
Fillers may restore volume, while Botox can target certain expression lines. Laser resurfacing and chemical peels, meanwhile, can be used to address skin texture, fine lines and some pigmentation changes.
The surgeon emphasized that cosmetic treatments should focus on refreshing a person’s appearance while preserving their individual facial characteristics.
In Lima’s case, however, none of the experts who commented on her photographs said they had personally treated her, meaning their observations cannot confirm which, if any, cosmetic procedures or treatments she may have undergone.
The dramatic difference seen between photographs from different periods can also be influenced by age, body weight, makeup, hairstyle, facial expression, camera angles and lighting.
For Lima, the latest appearance has nevertheless reignited interest in the model’s evolving look.
After years of being recognized for her distinctive runway beauty, her Madrid Fashion Week appearance has prompted many fans to revisit photographs from her Victoria’s Secret era and compare them with her current appearance.
While online speculation continues, the experts’ comments suggest that a combination of factors — rather than necessarily one major surgical procedure — can produce a significant change in the way a person’s face appears.
For now, Lima herself has not publicly confirmed that she underwent a specific cosmetic procedure to achieve her latest look.