LONDON • Detractors will tell United States President Donald Trump to his face that they hate his policies, but customers at plastic surgeons' clinics are electing to look like his daughter Ivanka and wife Melania.

New York surgeon Norman Rowe has been seeing several women a month who cite Ivanka as their face inspiration.

"I never saw (anyone who wished to copy Ivanka's face) before the (US presidential race)," he told celebrity website Page Six. "Since the summer of 2016... (it has been) maybe four a month; one a week."

Some women were spending up to US$40,000 (S$53,800) on temporary fillers and Botox, and up to US$50,000 for more invasive procedures such as rhinoplasty and cheek implants.

Earlier this year, Houston surgeon Franklin Rose told USA Today: "Ivanka is sort of the new style icon for plastic surgery."

In Britain, Dr Tijion Esho, who founded the Esho clinic and specialises in non-surgical procedures, said he has had "a few clients" who have mentioned Ivanka as an inspiration. One was someone who had met the celebrity recently and was taken with her jawline.

He added that it is physically possible to change one's face into something closer to a celebrity's, as long as there are enough structural similarities to begin with.

But he weighs the requests carefully. "When someone says she wants to look like someone else, your first concern should always be: Has this person got body dysmorphia?" This means a person has a distorted view of how he or she looks and is linked to ceaseless unhappiness over perceived body imperfections.

"Are they trying to attain something that isn't realistic?"

Last year, London-based surgeon Julian de Silva created a picture of his "perfect" face - made up of a record he claimed to have kept of the most-requested celebrity features.

The most popular nose was the Duchess of Cambridge's while other patients asked for actress Keira Knightley's eyes, actress Penelope Cruz's lips and singer Miley Cyrus' forehead.

In the more than 10 years he has been practising, Dr Esho has seen trends of celebrity faces come and go, at least for female patients.

For a while, he noted that "everybody wanted to look like Angelina Jolie". Then people wanted "to go for a Jennifer Aniston look - softer".

"Then it was Jennifer Lopez - fuller features," he said.

In recent years, he added, the Kardashians have been the most influential "where people want (strong) brows, strong cheekbones, larger lips - more exaggerated features".

It has a lot to do with exposure, said New York cosmetic surgeon Alan Matarasso.

Over the last year, he has seen an increase in the number of patients who mention the Trumps when talking about what they would like to change about their faces.

"There's no question that whenever an attractive, popular figure appears in the media a lot, you will get this," he said. "It's human nature. It's not exclusive to these two women (Ivanka and Melania), but they are front and centre now."

GUARDIAN