FAQ:

Early face lifts or mini-lifts for younger people

Here's an email that I received:

I am 32 years old, and although most people would say I look young for my age, I am starting to be bothered by a kind of "droopy" or "saggy" look to the area around my chin, and nose to mouth.  It gives me a kind of miserable, sad look and it is bothering me a lot. Would a mini face lift help?  I have been to consultations with doctors in LA who reckon they can make me look 21 again, and they say that many actresses and models undergo a mini lift around 30 to look fresher and younger.  They told me that the younger you are, the better it is for the healing process.

Sound reasonable?  It's not.  In my humble opinion, any plastic surgeon who tells you that he can perform an operation on a 32 year old to make her look 21 years old again is lying.  That is a bizarre and unrealistic expectation from a face lift operation.

In recent years, we have seen surgeons rename and redesign the face lift in order to make the operation more easily marketable to people who are in fact too young to need or benefit from a face lift.  Why?  For the money.  I have never seen a 30 year old who was a candidate for a face lift.

We do not perform face lifts prophylactically.  Before having a face lift, you must have visible signs of aging that can reasonably be corrected with a face lift, and you must see photographs of your surgeon's other patients, of your age, who have shown a good visible improvement from the operation, an improvement that you would like to have for yourself.

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