Dr. Corey Hartman, dermatalogist, on Karolina Leavitt’s red spots on her lips: “a vascular response to needle entry points”

On Tuesday, Vanity Fair published a piece about the members of Donald Trump’s inner circle. The first part of the two-part feature, “Susie Wiles, JD Vance, and the “Junkyard Dogs”: The White House Chief of Staff on Trump’s Second Term" has exclusive interviews withWhite House chief of staff Susie Wiles, vicepresident JD Vance, Stephen Miller and press secretary Karolina Leavitt.

Accompanying the article are Christopher Anderson’s close-up portraits - shot in high-definition with a ring light or ring flash. As portraits, it has to be said, they’re not particularly flattering, the lighting shows up every blemish and wrinkle while the subject stares impassively into the lens.

The shot of Trump’s spokesperson Karoline Leavitt drew some attention after someone pointed out a number of red marks dotted across her upper lip. What are the red dots? Some commentators suggested they could be evidence of some kind of cosmetic procedure.

Leading dermatologist Dr. Corey L. Hartman believes that the red dots are likely injection entry points. “I’m not her doctor, but it appears as though those red spots are a vascular response to needle entry points used to deliver a soft tissue filler to the vermilion border of her upper and lower lips,” he told HuffPost.

“It looks like a serial puncture technique, which is certainly a choice, but this would be on the higher end of injection sites,” Hartman added. “I don’t use this technique, but if I did, I would try to minimize the number of sticks, particularly if they leave behind small telangiectasias like this.”

Telangiectasias, or spider veins, is the result of dilation of small blood vesselsor capillaries in the skin or mucous membranes.

Public figures under constant, close scrutiny

Plastic surgeon Dr. Anita Kulkarni, adds, “The marks are likely from very recently injected lip filler, like the same day or the day before the photo shoot. This is called the ‘picket fence’ technique where lip filler is injected with a small needle vertically along the length of the lip to add height and volume to a short lip. The needle marks are not usually this visible, so she likely has some inflammation in that area that may be from sensitive skin and the needle.”

Kulkarni went on to explain that needle marks from lip injections tend to disappear within a few days. But they could even be from something else entirely - for example, recent dental work or irritated skin from cold weather or cosmetics.

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