MANILA – Many pageant fans, including Filipinos, were surprised as “before and after surgery” photos of Miss Universe Venezuela 2018 Sthefany Gutierrez surfaced online.

The photos were uploaded on Christmas Day by a certain Froilan Paez, a doctor who specializes in “aesthetic and functional nasal surgery,” according to his Instagram page.

Paez shared side-by-side comparisons of Gutierrez’ face before and after surgery, and tagged the beauty queen’s verified Instagram account.

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A post shared by DR FROILAN PAEZ S (@froilanpaez) on Dec 24, 2018 at 2:17pm PST

While most celebrities and beauty queens in the Philippines would normally feel uncomfortable with the idea of opening up about cosmetic surgery, Gutierrez seemed unfazed and even publicly thanked Paez for his “excellent work.”

Her response to the now viral Instagram post, when translated into English, read: “Thank you so much for your professional attention and excellent work. The best! See you soon!”

A quick look at Paez’ Instagram page would show that he also shared a photo of Gutierrez last December 17, shortly after the Venezuelan beauty queen was named second runner-up to the Philippines’ Catriona Gray in Miss Universe 2018.

Like in his other post, he used the hashtags #rhinoplasty and #nosejob, to name a few.

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A post shared by DR FROILAN PAEZ S (@froilanpaez) on Dec 16, 2018 at 7:06pm PST