New paparazzi snapshots of Zac Efron strolling through Venice, Italy, caused a sensation online last week. The 36-year-old Iron Claw star was recently spotted relaxing with friends, taking a break from his busy schedule promoting his newest Netflix film, A Family Affair.
Fans flooded social media, complimenting Efron’s appearance and speculating that he might have reversed his rumored facial fillers.
Speculation about his facial alterations first erupted in April 2021, following his participation in Bill Nye’s “Earth Day Musical” special on Facebook Watch, igniting rumors of plastic surgery.
This week, a plastic surgeon shared insights with The Daily Mail, examining Efron’s facial evolution from his 2004 on-screen debut to his current look in 2024, and discussing possible procedures like jaw augmentation and cheek implants.
Did Zac Efron Undergo Jaw Augmentation And Cheek Fillers? A Plastic Surgeon Weighs In
In 2004, a youthful Efron burst onto the television scene, marking his significant debut. At just 16 years old, he secured a recurring role in the inaugural season of the WB drama series, Summerland, portraying the character Cameron Bale. Speaking with the outlet, plastic reconstruction and aesthetic surgeon Dr. Mark Solomos noted: "As a young boy Zac appears to have more of an oval shaped face which is a combination of square and round."
The doctor then looked at a photo of Efron taken six years later amid his High School Musical fame. "The face is usually longer than it is wide as we can see in this picture from 2010," he said. The expert went on: "By 2010 Zac has matured and his face has filled out somewhat accordingly, as we would expect to see. His jawline is perhaps more angular but not due to any interventions- he's simply grown into his face."
Regarding Efron's features in the 2010s, Solomos continued: "What I do notice in this image is that Zac appears to have some displacement or asymmetry; his right side seems to be lower." In a 2022 Men's Health interview, Efron shared that he endured a significant jaw injury in 2013.
The 17 Again star recounted slipping on a pair of socks while running at home, leading to a collision with a granite fountain that severely damaged his chin. Efron revealed he lost consciousness and later awoke to find his chin bone "hanging off" his face and "nearly died. Amidst persistent plastic surgery rumors, he consistently emphasizes that jaw surgery is the sole cosmetic procedure he has undergone on his face.
Solomos then analyzed a photo of Efron from 2015 and said: "Fast forward to 2015 and that asymmetry has been corrected. His right side is no longer lower than the left and it appears to me that he'll have had some kind of surgery to correct that, possibly orthognathic with plates and screws or removing part of the bone."
Efron first faced allegations of undergoing plastic surgery years later in 2021, but it wasn't until the following year that he publicly addressed these rumors. He expressed surprise at the fervor surrounding his altered jawline, stating that he only became aware of the speculation when his own mother called to inquire if he had had any cosmetic procedures.
In October 2022, Efron attributed his changed appearance to an accident he suffered in 2013. He explained that the injury caused the masseter muscles in his face and jaw to "compensate," leading to their increased size and resulting in his strikingly different look. "The masseters just grew. They just got really, really big," he told Men's Health at the time.
The Emmy winner explained: "If I valued what other people thought of me to the extent that they may think I do, I definitely wouldn’t be able to do this work." Solomos noted regarding Efron's look in 2022: "His jaw looks really square which has changed his oval face shape somewhat. I would suggest that perhaps he wasn't happy with the previous surgery and so he's gone back and had his jaw augmented- possibly with a chin implant or further orthognathic surgery."
Solomos then concluded his thoughts on Efron's transformation over the years. "I think he's had that [issues mentioned from 2022] reversed or removed as the jaw we can see has lost its angular shape and the face is more rounded."
The surgeon added: "It's also worth noting that Zac's weight and body shape has changed many times over the years to accommodate various roles- weight loss/gain, diets etc will also have an impact on one's face- naturally if there's more weight on a face it will appear softer and rounder too."
Efron’s newest venture, the romantic comedy A Family Affair, premiered on Netflix on June 28th. In this film, Efron takes on the role of Chris Cole, a narcissistic Hollywood actor embroiled in a clandestine love affair with Brooke Harwood, a widow portrayed by Nicole Kidman. The twist? Their secret romance comes to light when Brooke’s daughter, Zara, played by Joey King, stumbles upon the truth.
On June 13th, the Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles was abuzz with excitement as Efron, Kidman, 57, and Joey King, 24, graced the premiere of their new movie. Efron turned heads in a sleek gray suit paired with a tailored black shirt and matching dress shoes. Fans couldn't stop gushing over his "healthy" and "handsome" appearance, with many continuing to speculate that he had "dissolved" his rumored facial fillers.
