Everyone lost their minds when Jenna Ortega stepped onto the red carpet for the Wednesday Season 2 press tour. It wasn't just the clothes. Her face looked... different. Sharper. More hollow. The internet did what the internet does and immediately jumped to one conclusion: Jenna Ortega buccal fat removal.
Social media erupted. TikTok "experts" started overlaying photos from her Disney Channel days with recent shots from London and Paris. Suddenly, everyone was a plastic surgeon. But did she actually do it? Or are we just witnessing the reality of a 22-year-old growing out of her baby fat while wearing really aggressive gothic makeup?
The Spark That Set Off the Speculation
The frenzy hit a breaking point in late 2024 and throughout 2025. Jenna appeared at several high-profile premieres with a look that was decidedly "corpse chic." We're talking bleached eyebrows, sunken cheek contours, and a jawline that could cut glass.
Google Trends showed a massive 1,500% spike in searches for "Jenna Ortega buccal fat." People weren't just curious; they were convinced.
Why people think she had surgery:
- The Mid-Cheek Hollow: In certain lighting, there is a distinct shadow right where the buccal fat pad lives.
- The Jawline: Her lower face looks significantly more angular than it did during the Scream VI era.
- The "Snatched" Trend: Buccal fat removal is the "it" procedure in Hollywood right now. If a celebrity looks thinner, people assume they went under the knife.
What the Experts Are Actually Saying
It’s easy for a random Twitter user to claim surgery, but the medical community is split. Dr. Gizem Seymenoglu, a medical aesthetician based in London, noted that the volume loss in Jenna's mid-cheek area is quite dramatic. According to her, that kind of specific hollowing is often hard to achieve with just weight loss or contouring.
On the flip side, many surgeons urge caution. Dr. Matthew Nykiel has pointed out that what we see in Jenna’s face is entirely consistent with natural maturation.
Think about it.
Between the ages of 18 and 25, the human face undergoes a massive shift. The "baby fat" that keeps us looking like teenagers naturally thins out. When you combine that natural thinning with a naturally slender frame like Jenna’s, you get a very chiseled result.
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The Power of the "Wednesday" Aesthetic
We can't talk about Jenna Ortega buccal fat removal without talking about her makeup artist. For the recent premieres, Jenna has leaned heavily into a high-fashion, gothic look.
Bleaching your eyebrows is a total game-changer for facial structure. Without the frame of a dark brow, the eyes look more sunken and the cheekbones appear higher. It’s an optical illusion used in editorial photography for decades.
Also, the contouring.
In some photos, you can actually see the line where the makeup was blended. If she’d had the fat surgically removed, those shadows would be there even in "no-makeup" pap shots. But in candid photos from 2025, like her Vogue shoots, her face often looks much fuller and more like the Jenna we know.
Weight Loss vs. Plastic Surgery
Jenna has always been petite, but the filming schedule for Wednesday is notoriously grueling. She’s mentioned in interviews that the workload was intense, involving fencing, stunt work, and long hours.
When you lose even a few pounds, the face is often the first place it shows—especially if you have a high-fashion bone structure to begin with.
"She definitely just sucks in her cheeks for photos," one fan noted on Reddit after watching video interviews. "You can see her do it... her face has always been really malleable."
The Verdict on Jenna Ortega Buccal Fat Removal
So, where does that leave us? Honestly, there is zero hard evidence that Jenna Ortega had buccal fat removal. She hasn't confirmed it, and her "before and after" photos are usually just a comparison of a 16-year-old girl and a 22-year-old woman.
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The "hollow" look comes and goes depending on her makeup and the lighting. If it were surgery, it would be permanent.
Hollywood is a pressure cooker. Young actresses are picked apart for every pore and shadow. Whether she had a procedure or just grew up, the obsession with her cheekbones says more about our current beauty standards than it does about her actual face.
Next Steps for You:
- Check the lighting: Before you judge a celebrity "before and after," look for unedited paparazzi photos. Studio lighting and red carpet flashes create shadows that don't exist in real life.
- Understand maturation: If you're in your early 20s and notice your face slimming down, don't panic. It's a natural biological process called facial maturation.
- Master the contour: If you want the Jenna look without the surgery, look into "hollow-cheek" contouring techniques using cool-toned taupe shades rather than warm bronzers.