How Miley Cyrus' Face Has Changed Over The Years

Miley Cyrus has had quite the style transformation over the years, so we're pretty used to whatever she throws at us. We barely batted an eye when Miley Cyrus' 2025 Oscars look turned heads for all the wrong reasons, or when her mismatched black outfit landed her squarely on the worst-dressed celebs list at this year's Met Gala. But lately, the changes we've spotted are just too glaring to ignore, and everyone is wondering the same thing: What happened to Cyrus' face? Make no mistake; we support the girlies, and the "Flowers" singer has every right to change her face as she pleases. Still, it's a jarring shift from just a few years ago, when she was tearing into artificial beauty standards right alongside the rest of social media.

Remember when she clapped back at commenters for merely suggesting she had lip filler? "It's so sad that people have done so much s**t to their face people don't believe in natural beauty," she wrote on X back in 2012. Or when she passionately schooled the internet in a 2011 post, wishing "they'd realize you don't have to be fake to be beautiful!" We're not sure if she was already dabbling in the untraceable facial plastic surgery trend back then or if the mods are more recent, but one thing's for sure: Cyrus' face has definitely changed over the years, and though it's subtle, a trained eye can definitely spot the differences.

Given just how different Miley Cyrus' face looks these days, theories have been flying. Some fans have pointed out that she's not the 13-year-old girl from "Hannah Montana" anymore, and that change is natural. Fair point. But according to experts, some of the changes don't quite fall under "natural evolution" or makeup, like Miley Cyrus' eyebrow transformation. Take her nose, for example, because the nose always knows. Cartilage weakens over time, and gravity takes over, causing the nose (and ears) to droop and appear larger with age. So, if someone's nose appears to shrink or sharpen as they grow older? That's a tell.

And the singer's nose has definitely gotten smaller and sharper. In her early teenage years, she was known for a fuller, more bulbous nose that gave her face its natural softness. Fast forward to today, and that softness has been traded in for a kind of sleek, sculpted profile. Interestingly, celebrity plastic surgeon Dr. Kassir, who operates out of New Jersey and New York, didn't mince words: " ... one can't help but notice something peculiar about Miley Cyrus' nose. It looks like the standard-issue 'perfect' nose they teach in Rhinoplasty 101. [...] Yes, of course, she has had a nose job!"

Dr. Anthony Youn, another well-known plastic surgeon, echoed that sentiment while offering some insight into why the modifications to the "Wrecking Ball" singer-songwriter's face and nose might've flown under the radar. "One of the things that some plastic surgeons do when they do rhinoplasty surgeries is they will leave certain parts of the nose there to keep it looking somewhat like its original self," he shared. Dr. Youn also believes the pop star's nose tweaks happened gradually, as photos at ages 15, 23, and 29 show subtle but distinct refinements over time.

Another glaring change in Miley Cyrus' face is the noticeable lack of fat in her cheeks. And considering how many celebrities have embraced buccal fat removal surgery lately, it's not exactly a far-fetched theory. But what do the experts say? Plastic surgeon and self-proclaimed "architect of transformation" Dr. Sam Fuller told the Daily Mail that all signs point in that direction, noting, "In addition, it looks like a buccal fat pad excision was performed in order to narrow her lower face and accentuate her jaw bone."

Beyond her hollowed cheeks, another possible sign of plastic surgery lies in the "Party in the U.S.A." singer's lips. She now sports noticeably plumper lips, which many attribute to filler. Analyzing a photo of Cyrus from 2013, plastic surgeon Dr. Gary Linkov points out the telltale signs: "If I look closely, it looks like there's some migration of filler beyond the vermilion border into the upper cutaneous lip. You can see that type of shadowing there, and that is typically what we see when filler has been placed."

However, Dr. Fuller believes filler might not be the only thing involved. "For her upper lip, it looks as though she's had a 'bullhorn' or subnasal upper lip lift, where a small amount of skin just under the nose is excised in order to provide a lasting upper lip lift," he went on. Cyrus is gorgeous as ever, but evidence and expert analysis suggest that she likely enhanced her nose, cheeks, and lips over the years.