Zac Efron's DWTS Appearance Has Everyone Convinced He Changed His Face Again
Online chatter started about Zac Efron's appearance when he showed up on "Dancing With the Stars" to support his brother, Dylan Efron, who was competing in the semifinals on November 18. Zac was seen in the audience holding their younger sister, Olivia, and the "A Family Affair" star also took to his Instagram Stories to encourage fans to vote for his brother. Dylan and his dancing partner, Daniella Karagach, were able to advance, and afterwards, he spoke about what it meant to have his famous sibling in the crowd. "I grew up watching him do stuff like this, so it's full circle," Dylan told Entertainment Tonight.
Following the semifinals airing, "DWTS" posted a backstage photo of Zac and Dylan posing together to their Facebook page, plus a snap of the actor sitting in the crowd with their mother. In the photo of the two brothers, Dylan flashed a giant smile, while Zac grinned with his mouth closed. Many fans noted that Zac looked different after his alleged plastic surgery. "So he's back to looking normal after that Vogue shoot?" one fan asked. "[L]ook at his normal lips!! It was just for the cover of the magazine!" another noted. "Normal" seemed to be the operative word as multiple fans noticed a change in his face — this time around, it was for the better. "Yep the swelling is finally going down after his terrible fall and subsequent surgery," one Facebook user commented.
Besides the accident the fan referred to, there had been multiple theories about why Zac's facial features were ever-changing.
Did Zac Efron use injuries as cover up?
A year before showing up at "Dancing With the Stars," everyone was asking questions about Zac Efron's appearance following a pool accident. As TMZ reported in September 2024, the "Baywatch" star injured himself when he came in contact with the bottom of a pool he dove into in Ibiza, Spain. The outlet posted the news to Instagram along with a recent photo of Efron, and most users were preoccupied with his appearance instead of the actor's health status. "He gonna look like Mickey rourke in a few years," one wrote. "Honestly ever time he goes away for a 'mishap' is just code for more plastic surgery," another theorized.
Two years prior, Efron broke the silence on his plastic surgery speculation and explained that his face had changed due to an injury. "The Iron Claw" actor opened up to Men's Health in September 2022 and said that he shattered his jaw in November 2013 when he slipped during a jog. Since then, he had received physical therapy on his masseter muscles — which are used for chewing — but after he let the therapy lapse, it impacted his features. "The masseters just grew. They just got really, really big," he told the publication.
While no one doubted that Efron sustained the injury, there were many (and not just fans) who believed he used it as a subterfuge. "He probably took the opportunity, in addition to correcting it, to do something better," plastic surgeon Dr. Sam Rizk told the New York Post in November 2023 when examining photos of Efron. "He might have had jaw advancements where they pull the chin a little bit more forward because his chin looks a little bit more prominent," Rizk said.