Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie is the gold standard of beauty among women seeking cosmetic¹ surgery and that's not about to change, a leading Hollywood surgeon has told Australian specialists.

The US movie star has the most requested look - exaggerated, almost cartoonish lips, eyes and cheek bones - desired by American women wanting a nip and tuck, Professor Ava Shamban says.

The Los Angeles-based cosmetic dermatologist² told a gathering³ of 400 fellow Australian specialists that demand for this brand of exotic look is here to stay.

"Angelina Jolie, with her exquisite⁴ looks, is the current gold standard of beauty in the states and in the West in general right now," said Prof Shamban, who has appeared on the chat show Oprah and the reality TV series Extreme Makeover.

"And that's not about to change. The exotic look, like (actresses) Halle Berry and Penelope Cruz, is here to stay, and Angelina is the ultimate embodiment of that."

The UCLA academic and practising specialist made the claim during a presentation on the benefits of beauty at a national cosmetic medicine conference in Melbourne.

Good-looking people marry more, marry better, earn more and are assisted more readily by strangers, and studies have shown that even babies prefer to look at attractive faces, she said.

Thanks to cosmetic surgery, "we can now hold onto our beauty for longer", Professor Shamban said, but she warned that as the artists of this generation, surgeons must take their role seriously.

"Features like Angelina's won't fit every face and we must take care with that," she said.

Australian College of Cosmetic Surgery president Michael Zacharia said requests for Jolie's looks were becoming increasingly frequent.

"It's common to hear people say 'I want lips or cheekbones like Angelina Jolie's', and her association with Brad Pitt has just accentuated⁵ this," Dr Zacharia said.

He said the trend was probably helped by a growth in non-surgical treatments, predominantly Botox, to flatten⁶ creases⁷, and dermal⁸ fillers to plump up sagging⁹ skin - both of which aid in "enhancing" features.

Sydney-based sexual health psychologist Professor Jane Ussher said the trend was concerning because Jolie's looks were statistically¹⁰ abnormal.

"She is arguably a human representation of a cartoon character, similar to those Bratz dolls, and virtually no-one looks like that," Prof Ussher said.

"If you buy into the idea that that (look) is perfect then you'll never feel good about yourself because you'll never attain¹¹ it."