American writer, director, actress and producer Lena Dunham has revealed an unexpected piece of advice she received during a recent cosmetic consultation.
The 39-year-old shared the update via a TikTok video on Thursday, reflecting on another visit to a dermatologist ahead of her 40th birthday.
Dunham explained that the doctor also happens to be an experienced plastic surgeon, which made the actress curious about what changes would be recommended if there were no limits.
“Let’s call it what it is. She’s a plastic surgeon. I told her, ‘If I unleashed you completely on my face, money wouldn’t be a problem, healing wouldn’t be a problem, just tell me what would you do?’ ”
Dunham admitted in the video that she was expecting a long list of procedures, but the doctor told her she wouldn’t be making any major changes.
“She looked at me and said, ‘I wouldn’t go crazy. I like to emphasize my client’s natural beauty,'” Dunham said.
She said the doctor pointed out that the strongest part of her face is the area between her forehead and just below her nose.
The Girls The creator then joked: “I thought okay, so what can you see through a criminal ski mask? And the rest you would basically destroy in a meat grinder?”
Dunham’s admission comes after several instances where she spoke out about the criticism she received over her appearance. In an earlier post celebrating the 13th anniversary of her show GirlsDunham said she was judged for how her body looked when she was younger.
“The feedback coming my way — at least the feedback I could hear — was about all the ways in which a young body was unacceptable,” Dunham wrote in April 2025, recalling that she was only 25 years old at the time.
Dunham added that these experiences helped her become more comfortable with changes in her body over time.
“I didn’t know how grateful I would be for it all,” she later continued. “As a result of my years of toiling in the comments section, the shifts in my human form (aging, illness, abrasions and scars) no longer confused me as they might have done. This body had already been an object of contempt and so the rest of the way was paved for me.”
Her next project is the film Good sexstarring Natalie Portman, coming to Netflix later this year.
