A recent expose by Tehran's Hamshahri newspaper has revealed that Iran's top officials and politicians such as the former president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, are joining Iran's cosmetic surgery boom. 

Others in the expose include Mohsen Rezaei, a former IRGC commander with deep political ties, whose recent appearances suggest significant cosmetic alterations.

The revelation has sparked discussions about the hypocrisy and vanity of state figures who traditionally promote a facade of austerity and religious and moral purity to the public.

According to the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, Iran ranked 12th highest for cosmetic surgery procedures as of 2022. That climbed from 18 in 2016, with 80 percent of patients women.

Rhinoplasty is the most common procedure, followed by liposuction, eyelid surgery, abdominoplasty and breast augmentation.

So common has the practice become that last year, interior minister Ahmad Vahidi said people who had radically changed their appearance through cosmetic procedures would need to apply for new ID documentation.

“The authentic Iranian face is being distorted through invasive procedures,” Babak Nikoumaram, chair of the Iranian Society of Plastic and Aesthetic Surgeons told the Financial Times earlier this year. “Incongruous western beauty standards are forced upon Iranians.”