While many things have changed in plastic surgery over the past few decades, one of those has been the age of the patients seeking improvements. Older patients appear today for procedures than twenty years ago would have been unimagined. And this does not necessarily refer to the patients who seek facial rejuvenation, an obviously older patient population by definition when it comes to more extensive facial procedures.
Just in the last several months I can think of the 64 year-old retired flight attendant who wanted a breast augmentation, the 76 year-old florist (still working) who had a breast lift with implants and an extended tummy tuck and 90 year-old man who had a direct necklift. All across America there are people in their 60s, 70s, 80s and sometimes even 90s who are seeking physical improvements at a time when some may question why.
Patients older than 65 years old make up just a small fraction, less than 10%, of the more than 12 million plastic surgery procedures that were performed last year in the U.S.. While it is the younger patients who have made the greatest contribution to the recent boom in the rising plastic surgery numbers, the older patient segment is more astonishing by their ages. At a time when some seniors may have significant physical issues or even in a nursing home, others are working on their face or bodies to be the best they can be.
What accounts for these increasingly more common ‘silver‘ plastic surgery procedures? Undoubtably the answer is that they want to look as good as they physically feel. Therein lies the critical determinant…they have the good physical health to not only undergo the surgery but feel the desire for it. A chronological number is one thing but, for those who can, they do not want to look like an advertisement for that number.
These patients prove that age doesn’t have to be a major deterrent in having some plastic surgery changes. While age is a number, it does not always convey the health soundness of a person. As long as one is reasonably healthy and does not have medical issues like heart or lung problems then they should come through surgery just fine. People are living longer and are more healthy than in generations past. They live healthier lives and take better care of themselves, partially due to advancements in medical care.
Most will find, however, the recovery is often a little longer than that of patients half their age. This is particularly true for body plastic surgery procedures which, by surface area, induce more trauma on the body than that of facial plastic surgery procedures.
One important consideration to silver (I still prefer this term than that of senior citizen) plastic surgery is the need to be more vigilant about a presurgical medical workup. The patient needs to be cleared for surgery by their primary care doctor and have routinue blood work and EKG. (which most older patients already have) Another consideration is to be judicious about what procedures to combine and how long the operation would be. In a patient over 65 you want not do as long or extensive operations than say someone 35 years old. This is a matter of medical judgment and common sense. Good health at age 70 is still not the same as good health at 40 years old.
Many older people today are living their life to the fullest and as one 75 year-old patient told me recently…’if I don’t do this now when would be the next good time’.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana