Facelift surgery has been popular for many years as new and improved techniques have been refined. In 2020, more than 200,000 people had a surgical facelift, bringing this procedure into the top five for the year. Even with a wide variety of nonsurgical treatments available today, the surgical facelift remains the gold standard. Hesitancy about this procedure is most often related to some false idea. We’ll outline a few of them here.
I’m too young for a facelift.
Early in the days of facelift surgery, this procedure was sought primarily by people whose signs of aging had become relatively severe. This is where the idea of being too young for a facelift originated. The idea is false. Based on research, people who undergo facelift surgery around mid-life, before age 60, often get the best results. This may be because patients in their 40s and 50s who are just seeing jowls, sagging, and flattening still have sufficient tissue firmness and elasticity to elicit long-term improvements.
Everyone will know I’ve had work done.
Like the idea of age, this idea about the results of facelift surgery stem from early practice. When surgeons first began performing facelift procedures, the skin was the primary focus. In order to restructure the natural contours of the face, they had to pull the skin extraordinarily tight. The result was obvious. Patients looked windblown and unnaturally tight. Today’s facelifts surpass the skin and reposition fat and muscle tissue as well as the skin. This allows the surgeon to act more conservatively while achieving natural-looking results. Interestingly, some patients express frustration that more people don’t notice they’ve had work done!
I don’t need surgery to get facelift-quality results.
There are so many nonsurgical treatments available today that we can easily see why some patients think they can avoid a facelift forever. Provided that they have realistic expectations, they can. However, the surgical facelift is still the gold standard, even with lasers and ultrasound and threads and so on. The reason is that only the facelift repositions the SMAS layer of tissue, so only this technique can make a person look 10 years younger for 10 years or longer.
The best way to know exactly what is possible with facelift surgery is to consult with a board-certified plastic surgeon. We’d love to see you in our Houston or Sugar Land office. Contact us at 713.271.9000 to schedule your visit!