The term ‘facial rejuvenation’ encompasses a broad range of aesthetic soft tissue procedures of the face of which the most recognizeable is the facelift. Patients desire a facelift when their jowls and neck sag and they wish to have a more youthful jaw and neckline. One of the most common questions patients ask before surgery is how long will the result last? But another question about facelifts that is almost never asked is…how much younger will it make me look?
As a general statement, many plastic surgeons have used the phrase ‘it is like turning the clock back ten years’. The origin of this statement has never been substantiated that I am aware of and may even not be that important. Patients express interest in looking refreshed and less tired not necessarily if they will look younger.
But according to a recently published study in the August 2013 issue of the Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery, one may younger after a facelift and other procedures but just not as much as some have suggested. In a paper entitled ‘Objective Assessment of Perceived Age Reversal and Improvement in Attractiveness after Aging Face Surgery’, the age-changing effects of surgery were evaluated. In looking at nearly 50 patients (ages 42 to 73) who had a variety of facial plastic surgery procedures (facelifts, eyelid lifts, browlifts), their photographs were analyzed by complete strangers who estimated their ages and rated their attractiveness. They found that the lay person estimated the patient’s age at 5 years younger than their real age after surgery compared to 2 years younger than before surgery. This made a difference of an average of 3 years younger than their actual chronological age.
The conclusion is that people do look younger after facial rejuvenation procedures and this effect is greater the more procedures one has done at the same time. It may not be as much as ten years younger for everyone but people will definitely look younger. This study corroborates a previous study done a year earlier that showed one’s appearance was changed at about seven years younger than their actual age after a facelift.
While being judged on one’s age is one criteria by which the success of facial rejuvenation procedures can be judged, what really matters is how the patient feels about themselves. How do they feel they look and do they feel better about themselves? Changes in self-image are the ultimate criteria for any plastic surgery procedure. For this reason many patients probably feel much younger than how they are perceived by others after surgery.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana