I’m low-key obsessed with facelifts right now, which is to say I’m a 46-year-old woman who’s confused by the person looking back at her in recent photos. And y’all, I know my angles. It’s not my imagination. Even my long-term partner asks, “What’s wrong?” more frequently. Nothing’s wrong. I’m aging. It’s the subtle shifts in my face that make me appear a little less fresh. A smidge more tired. Frankly, a little bit bitchier.
I’ve been pretty chill about getting older until now. I’ve always taken care of my skin, diligently applying sunscreen by day and retinol at night since my 20s. When I noticed fine lines forming in my 30s, I panicked — then headed over to the dermatologist and added Botox to my regimen. That (plus bangs) freed me from forehead ridges, frown lines, and crow’s-feet.
Now, my eyelids are heavier. My once-snatched jawline has lost its edge. (Are those jowls!?) At this point, I’ve familiarized myself with the plastic surgeon’s office as I’ve dabbled in a few “tweakments,” as the aesthetic industry marketing machine likes to call treatments: The neurotoxin of my 30s has led to a test run of filler in my 40s (Juvéderm Volux, which I got once in my jawline). And every three years or so, I get Fraxel. But there are some things that noninvasive treatments can’t do. For a more dramatic and permanent improvement, I know surgery is my best bet. So I’ve been stalking facelift before and afters on Instagram. And remaining stuck firmly in the contemplation phase. Could I ever sign up for an elective surgery? How scary is getting a facelift? More importantly, would it be worth it?
In the pros column: The overly tight facelifts of the past are in our rearview. The modern lift doesn’t look weird and pulled. That’s because plastic surgeons have evolved their understanding of underlying facial anatomy, resulting in something called the “deep-plane facelift,” which lifts the top three layers as a unit rather than pulling just the skin taut, like facelifts used to in the ’70s. It might be combined with fat grafts to restore lost volume in the midface, which fixes a lot of issues that a lift just can’t. And treating the midface, jawline, and neck as one piece improves results. Every surgeon has evolved their own technique, but one thing that remains is an understanding that there may not be a single cookie-cutter technique for the perfect facelift.
Patients doing their part have been blabbing about their more natural results to friends, family, and followers, spurring a renewed interest in getting a little nip/tuck. “Now, especially in New York and LA, people talk about plastic surgery a lot amongst each other,” says Ben Talei, MD, a plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills. “They’re not ashamed to talk about it in front of their friends anymore because they’re not getting something embarrassing done.”
So is a facelift worth it? Truth is, plastic surgery isn’t a magic wand and managing expectations is key. A facelift can only deliver what it promises, which is… “a facelift,” says Dr. Talei. “It’s not a skin-quality improvement. It’s not revolumization. It’s not restoration of all the layers of your face that have aged over the past few decades.” Seeing a marked improvement in lines, wrinkles, and sagging can depend largely on the individual. “One patient might just need a face- and necklift, which is one thing, but another patient might come in and need more,” he says. That might entail a facelift plus a brow lift, neck lift, upper or lower blepharoplasty (eyelid lift), fat removal (from under the chin, for example), fat grafting (in the cheeks), or a combination of several of these.
Facelifts are commonly done with the addition of other procedures — that’s because what plastic surgeons call a “facelift” technically tightens only from midface to jawline and people seek improvement in more than one area. The results should be balanced. Otherwise, “It's like cleaning only half the house,” says Theda Kontis, MD, a plastic surgeon in Baltimore. “The rest doesn't look right.” (Combining procedures may also save you money on fees for anesthesia and operating room facilities, plus reduce cumulative recovery time.)
All of this is to say that the most important thing to remember about facial plastic surgery is this: You can’t change something and leave everything the same. “There’s no way to alter someone’s face 100% in the positive without having a negative here and there,” says Dr. Talei. The most obvious examples of this are incision scars. No one wants a visible scar and there are many ways — from surgical tricks to post-procedure treatments — to help them heal better. Before you freak out, it’s possible there could be massive improvements for a relatively small sacrifice.
If, by chance, you don’t know anybody who’s had a facelift, allow us to introduce 13 people who have, in the past couple of years. Here’s the tea on why they went for it, what the surgical experience was like, and whether they’d do it again.
Procedures: Deep-plane facelift with an endoscopic brow lift to raise the eyebrows. (An endoscopic procedure is one in which an illuminated camera, or endoscope, enables surgeons to see more of what is happening beneath the skin.)
Surgeon: Patrick J. Byrne, MD, is a double board-certified facial plastic surgeon in Cleveland.
Cost: approximately $15,000*
“I cried for several years when my son passed away. It was really taking a toll on me. I was getting jowls and my eyebrows were practically laying on my eyelashes. When I got my hair done, I would see myself in the mirror and my face was just practically in my lap.
“I didn’t know anybody who had a facelift done, but where I live in rural Ohio, if you want anything like that you go straight to the Cleveland Clinic. That’s where I found Dr. Byrne. He’s the chairman of the Head & Neck Institute. He does a lot of reconstructive surgery, like car accidents and dog bites. His work looked good.
“I didn’t know a whole lot about the surgery, even though I’m a registered nurse. I chose not to look it up because I didn’t really want to know. I just wanted to get the facelift done.
“I was wrapped up like a mummy after. I had a lot of sutures and drainage tubes sticking out of my head.
“After the surgery, I was vomiting for three days. I spent the first few nights sitting upright in a recliner chair because of the drainage. I used Tylenol around the clock for the pain. During the second week, things got progressively better. I was riding my lawn mower two weeks after I had the surgery. The third week I really felt great. I was back to work as a visiting nurse in four weeks. The only issue was one suture that didn’t dissolve and it was getting infected off and on — irritation, redness, some pus. About a month after the surgery, I went to the office to have it removed, which resolved the problem. [Editor’s note: Infections at or next to incision sites occur in 0.5% to 3% of patients, according to a recent review of data out of Duke University School of Medicine’s Duke Center for Antimicrobial Stewardship and Infection Prevention.] I did have bruising for a long time (about six weeks), but I was able to cover it up with makeup.”
Procedures: Deep-plane facelift and neck lift, upper blepharoplasty, fat transfer to the cheeks
Surgeon: Carl Truesdale, MD, is a board-certified facial plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills.
Cost: approximately $40,000
“It started when I looked in the mirror and I didn’t see myself — I saw my grandmother. Then my daughter told me about this filter going around that showed what you’d look like when you were older. I asked her if she looked like me and she said, ‘Worse!’ Then she said, ‘I’m not going to worry about it, because when I get to your age, I’m just going to get a facelift.’ She said it so matter-of-factly. I was like, ‘You know what, I should get a facelift.’ That started my journey.
“When searching for the right surgeon, I saw that Dr. Truesdale graduated from Morehouse. I graduated from Howard University, which is another HBCU [Historically Black Colleges and Universities], so that was my first connection.
“He has an amazing résumé. His focus has always been from the neck up and he is also a portrait artist. So I knew he had that artistic side and he looks at faces all day. It’s going to be second nature to him to see if something’s off-balance. I also watched every single one of his YouTube videos and posts where he shares the procedures as he’s doing them on people.
“It’s a lot of money, but I said to myself, If you’re going to do this, do it in the most comfortable way it can be done. I told myself, Let’s just think of it as a new car. My face is my new vehicle. And I went ahead and did it — and I love my results.
“Healing is a longer journey than you expect. I thought my upper lid lift was going to be the big thing, but my eyes were back to normal in three weeks; it wasn’t a big deal. Overall, recovery took about four months total.
“When I had my consultation, my daughter came along and brought a picture of me when I was 30 holding her as a baby. He looked at my cheeks and was like, “If you want that volume back, you’ll need [a fat transfer].” It was the best decision ever. And the nice thing about it was that it eliminated the hollowness under my eyes altogether. That was the first thing I saw in the midst of all that bruising. I was like, ‘Hey, where did those dark circles go?’
Procedures: Deep-plane facelift with fat augmentation to restore facial volume loss
Surgeon: Theda Kontis, MD, is a board-certified facial plastic surgeon in Baltimore and immediate past president of the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (AAFPRS).
Cost: approximately $11,000
“Years ago, I had a cyst removed from my thyroid and the little bone in front of it, the hyoid. As I got older, that surgery caused my neck to sag more than it may have otherwise. I used to sit in front of the mirror and pull that part up all the time and think, God, what a difference that makes. Dr. Kontis was my doctor already (she had done a corrective rhinoplasty for me) and being in her office I was privy to her brochures and information about facelift surgery. I had been getting Botox for my crow’s-feet and filler in my marionette and frown lines and crow’s-feet, you know, but I was just starting to need something more.
“I got the surgery at 64, mostly because of my neck. It was only really painful for the first couple of days. If you ever wore those old-timey, clip-on earrings, it felt like you had 1,000 of them on your ears. I was swollen, but the bruising wasn’t very bad. Very little showed on the outside. I planned to lay at home for a couple of days since I’m a farmer and my job is all heavy lifting.
“Dr. Kontis said, ‘Give me two weeks and you’re back.’ And I was. In two weeks, I was back to stocking shelves and unloading trucks. I just used some common sense and took it a little easy.
“I never had a lot of confidence. Now it’s like my nickname is, ‘Hi, pretty lady,’ or ‘Hi, beautiful.’ I don’t worry about wearing a turtleneck anymore. Getting a facelift has encouraged me to take good care of myself. Like really get in there and wash my face every night, drink that water, you know. Because it’s not a magic wand. I asked Dr. Kontis, ‘[The result is] not going to go away, is it?’ and she told me I had to do my part, too. People my age look at me, like, Okay, what is she doing?! And some do know, but I don’t tell everybody.”
Procedures: AuraLyft (which is how Dr. Talei has branded his deep-plane facelift technique), plus other lifts — lip, brow, and upper and lower lids (blepharoplasty).
Surgeon: Ben Talei, MD, is a board-certified facial plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills.
“My son went through a really bad episode with [mental health] for four or five years. It was too much being at work and then trying to see if he was okay, so I decided to quit work. I lost my home, lost my car. It was just a really hard time. I was not a bad-looking woman before, but looking in the mirror, those five years had aged me so much. I thought, I may have let go of my youth and my beauty, but my son is alive, so it’s worth it.
“Then I had a total miracle happen to me. I first saw Dr. Talei on TV when he did Kris Jenner’s sister’s facelift and I was so amazed by her results. Then, I had a friend who got work done with him and I was like, Oh, my God! I need to work hard over time to save my money and go get this done. So, I had been following Dr. Talei online and on Instagram for years. One day, my friend who works at Telemundo was doing a story on him and they needed someone to get a nanofat procedure from him onscreen. [Editor’s note: Allure has previously reported that nanofat injections use a mix of cells, including stem cells, harvested from a person’s own body fat with the goal of making their skin look younger. One review of studies noted that “further studies are needed to assess the long-term efficacy and safety of this technique.”]
“I said, ‘Of course!’ When I met him, I told him I was saving up to get work done by him one day. We did the procedure. They took fat from my stomach and injected it into my face. I went home and didn’t think anything of it. Well, two weeks later his team contacted me because he needed somebody for a medical video for his teaching and training. They said if I was okay with letting them use the footage, he would do the surgeries for free. And I’m like, ‘Of course! You can do it in Dodger Stadium in front of a crowd! I don’t care!’
“I didn’t talk to the doctor beforehand. I really didn’t know what he was going to do to me. I have two grandkids and I thought, I don’t want them not to recognize their grandmother. That was my only worry. But I had total faith. So, when I went to get my stitches out, I asked, ‘Could you tell me what I had done?’ And he said, ‘Honey, you had everything done. I can use that video for almost any procedure that I do.’ [Editor’s note: The approximate cost of the procedures Connie C. had from Dr. Talei is $120,000, not including operating room and anesthesia fees.]
“As I was healing, I didn’t look different. I just looked like when I was younger. It was like, if he knew me 20 years ago, which he didn’t. My mother just had a birthday party on Sunday and we had about 50 family and friends over that we hadn’t seen in a while. And everybody said, ‘Why do you look so great? Is it your hair? Did you lose weight?’ Everybody thought different things, but nobody could tell. Especially here in LA, we’re used to seeing people with visible work. I’m like, Okay, if the Mexican aunts who are all in my business can’t see it, then it’s got to be good.
“As time goes by, the results look better and better. My skin looks so good at 62 years old that I’m not wearing foundation anymore. I just put on a little eye shadow and lip gloss and that’s it. Before, I had to carry a makeup bag like a tool chest. I think this blessing was for a purpose, not only to give me those years back, but to let me know that I did a good job as a mom. The experience has changed me on the outside and the inside.”
Procedures: Deep-plane facelift and neck lift with an upper eyelid lift (blepharoplasty)
Surgeon: Konstantin Vasyukevich, MD, is a board-certified facial plastic surgeon in New York City.
Cost: approximately $45,500
“My original thought six or seven years ago was, I have to have my eyelids done because I don’t know where all this skin came from. Then, suddenly, when I hit 55, my whole face changed. My body, it’s good enough, I don’t have to touch it. But the body didn’t match my face — it was sagging and losing elasticity. I felt like my face was losing its happiness.
“I started doing online research with my husband, and Dr. Konstantin’s results caught both of our interest. I kept opening his website and looking at his work for two years before deciding to move forward.
“I didn’t go for the full anesthesia, but I didn’t feel anything. I could hear the doctor and his team talking, but my eyes were closed. I heard them on my left, on my right, behind me. I was told, ‘We’re doing this and we’re doing that.’ I think that was the best four hours I spent at the doctor’s office in my life. [Editor’s note: Some surgeons give patients the option to skip general anesthesia in favor of intravenous sedation when appropriate. It doesn’t typically reduce the overall cost of the procedure, but, “IV anesthesia could help to avoid some of the complications associated with general anesthesia. It also could help to minimize the swelling and bruising and, as a result, speed up recovery,” says Dr. Vasyukevich.]
“I got there around nine in the morning and we left the office around two o’clock. When we got home, I was able to walk around, but I did take it easy. I lay down, I watched TV. I took 800 milligrams of Tylenol for maybe the first three days. I didn’t eat real food for about a week though because it wasn’t comfortable to open my mouth wide and chew. Soft toast and eggs kept me going, plus some meal replacement shakes. But I was up and walking every single day. After eight weeks, I was told I could do gentle exercise, but I still gave myself another month before I went to the gym.
“The doctor and the staff nurse prepared me for everything and explained step by step about the swelling and numbness I would experience after the surgery. I’d asked, ‘Like when you go to a dentist?’ It’s not exactly like with the dentist. It’s a slightly different kind of numbness, with tightness to it. It’s not a pain, though. Everything was exactly how they told me it would be: It’s going to be numb when you put the phone to your ear, so be careful because you might hit your head without even knowing. If you put on earrings, you might pull too hard without knowing it, so no reason to wear earrings for a while. In the first stage of healing, for a couple of months, I really had to press the skin to feel the area close to my ears. Six months later, the feeling is still coming back and I have been told it’s a process. It’s normal.
“I have friends who had this surgery and my first question was, ‘What did you do to your face?’ No one is asking me that. People tell me, ‘Oh, you look relaxed. You look beautiful.’ People who I didn’t see for years say, ‘Oh, you never change. You look the same.’”
Procedures: Deep-plane facelift and neck lift, buccal fat removal, fat transfer to cheeks
Surgeon: Ben Talei, MD, is a board-certified facial plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills.
Cost: approximately $83,000 (not including operating room and anesthesia fees, which tend to cost at least $5,000 on average)
“I was looking too tired. I was 78 when I had the surgery. Even though I’m of a certain age, I don’t feel my age, so I didn’t wanna look it. I didn’t like what I saw in the mirror around my cheeks — the sides of my face looked like they were drooping. It took a few years, but I saved my money and went to Dr. Talei and he took care of me.
“When I looked in the mirror the next day, even though I had the stitches and stuff, I felt really good. Now people just say, ‘Oh my, you sure look nice.’ And then I say, ‘Um-hum, um-hum,’ and smile inside. Every time I look in the mirror, I smile. And I’m still smiling.”
Procedures: Facelift with a neck lift, blepharoplasty, and brow lift
Surgeon: David Shafer, MD, is a board-certified plastic surgeon in New York City.
Cost: approximately $65,000
“I had surgery about six months ago. For some people, the expense isn’t a big consideration, but it took me a year to decide whether I was being responsible. In a way, I was investing in my business. I sell real estate. I’m not a naturally self-conscious person. I’m pretty confident. I try to focus on the things that really matter, but I have a very short window of time to make a first impression, there’s lots of competition, and we live in a very ageist society. I always say I’m going to work until lunch on the day of my funeral. I love what I do.
“I have a ton of energy, but no matter how much rest I got, I was looking tired. I started hesitating to do Zoom or FaceTime because I don’t see myself like that. You don’t want to date yourself visually, because people may question if your skill set is dated. I’m a realist.
“After my surgery, I stayed overnight in a surgical suite with private-care nursing and they took the drains out the next day before I left. [Editor’s note: Drains are tubes used to suck out any fluid that accumulates between the skin and the underlying tissue. “We put them in during surgery and remove them the next morning,” says Dr. Shafer. “They really help decrease swelling during the first 24 hours and speed up the healing."] I don’t remember the first couple of days, to be fair. I was on pain medication. I could technically get up and work within two weeks, but I looked like I had been in a street brawl. If you’re Type A like me, you always overestimate your abilities. You’re sure you’re going to heal faster than anyone else. After a couple of weeks, I went back to Dr. Shafer’s office and they lasered the incisions and made sure I was healing properly. [Editor’s note: A Vbeam pulsed-dye laser may reduce redness and thickness in scars.] If you have the luxury of being able to take time off, a solid month to six weeks is a good timeline.
“Honestly, resting was the hardest part. I had to stop exercising for almost three months, which is a big part of my daily routine. I like to be active. But it is important to your healing, and you’ve just invested so much [in this procedure]. It’s your health, it’s your face.”
Procedures: Endoscopic facelift (Dr. Lee calls his version of an endoscopic facelift the WAVE Lift), endoscopic browlift, and buccal fat removal, along with a tummy tuck (not shown)
Surgeon: Peter Lee, MD, is a a board-certified plastic surgeon in Los Angeles.
Cost: approximately $60,000 (including the tummy tuck)
“I’ve had two C-sections. Compared to those, the recovery from this surgery was nothing, even though I did the facial surgery at the same time as a tummy tuck. I was leaving the house at around two weeks with sunglasses or a mask on.
“I’m four months out from surgery and I feel amazing. You can’t see any scars because Dr. Lee hid them inside my ears. I’m still numb, but he says the feeling will return in a couple of months. When I draw eyeliner, it’s like when I was in my 20s. Not too much change in [my eye] shape, not too little, just perfect.
“At first, my husband didn’t want me to do the surgery. He always said, ‘I don’t care if you’re older. I love you. Even if you were ugly, I’d still love you.’ But even he admits I look much better now and he said he’s very happy for me because I’m happier.”
Procedures: AuraLyft (Dr. Talei’s deep-plane facelift) with revision rhinoplasty (to correct a previous nose job) and work to the lips (silicone lip implant removal followed by a lip lift) and an upper blepharoplasty.
Surgeon: Ben Talei, MD, is a board-certified facial plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills.
Cost: approximately $180,000 (not including operating room and anesthesia fees, which tend to cost at least $5,000 on average)
“I was young to get at facelift — 49. I’d had estrogen-positive breast cancer. I went through chemo, which really destroyed my face. I worked as a model for a long time, but everything changed. I felt like the elasticity was gone and my skin was so dry. It takes a toll on you because you go through chemo, early menopause, and you can’t do hormones [to treat menopausal symptoms], so that’s just like a triple whammy. And, unfortunately, two months after I finished chemo, a friend’s dog bit me in the face. I needed 50 or 60 stitches. He almost took my top lip off.
“I went through a lot at that time, but I got through. Then I was shopping with a friend who was younger, about 30, and someone asked me if I was her mother. I was like, Oh, hell no. I was working as Dr. Talei’s assistant, so I was super familiar with his work. But if your pre-op tests [such as blood tests] don’t look good, you can’t get surgery. And even though I was two years out of chemo, we had to reschedule my surgery twice because of a thyroid issue.
“Then I had the work. I looked crazy afterwards with the swelling and bruising, but honestly, no complications, not one. I took really good care of myself. I rested, did the hyperbaric chamber, the LED bed, ate a lot of protein. [Editor’s note: One small study of 20 female facelift patients found getting multiple sessions (7.22 on average) of hyperbaric oxygen therapy after surgery translated to statistically significant, shorter recovery times. Another study suggests LED treatment after a facelift may help mitigate scarring.] You can’t overdo rest after you’ve had a big surgery like that. You have to just take care of your body.
“I let Dr. Talei film me during my recovery because people go in and think they’re going to immediately look like an after picture. Honestly, you won’t look like your true self for about four months.
“When we would go on Instagram Live, some people were vicious. They were saying he gave me cat eyes. I’m Ukrainian and they looked very dramatic at first. Listen, you have to have realistic expectations. You are not going to look great two weeks out of surgery. I was actively recovering for at least a month.
“Now I get Botox every six months or so. I don’t feel the need to get filler like before. After chemo and the dog bite, the facelift gave me back the confidence and self-esteem that I thought I had lost forever. I’m so happy I had it done. No one asks if I’m my friend’s mother anymore.”
Procedures: A facelift focused on the lower cheeks and a neck lift
Surgeon: J. Randall Jordan, MD, is a double board-certified facial plastic surgeon in Jackson, Mississippi.
Cost: approximately $8,000
“I have always taken care of my skin. I have a YouTube page about beauty over 50, and I’ve done it all — prescription tretinoin, IPL, radiofrequency microneedling, Co2 lasers. Every three or four years I try to do something for maintenance, so I thought maybe I wouldn’t have to have a face lift. But there is only so much you can do without going under the knife.
"When I became an Amazon influencer/affiliate, doing product reviews meant taking and editing lots of videos of my face. I started noticing my turkey neck, the jowls, the crow’s feet. I also realized that I have more collagen and elastin in my skin today than I’m going to have tomorrow — it’s going away by the minute. And so, the sooner I was gonna get a face lift, the better my result would be. [Editor’s note: You lose around 1% of collagen each year after the age of 25, and skin does become less elastic over time. Historically, most facelift patients have been mid-50s+, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Some plastic surgeons believe a facelift can produce better results before there is significant sagging, but they may also turn away younger patients with mild laxity who are not yet candidates for the procedure.]
"I don’t know if everybody else is doing this, but I was awake during my surgery. Dr. Jordan gave me Valium and used numbing shots [local anesthetic injections]. They also let me have laughing gas to get nice and relaxed. [Editor’s note: While performing Chris L.’s facelift, Dr. Jordan used local anesthetic along with oral sedation with Diazepam and hydrocodone. Nitrous oxide gas was administered only during initial injections of the local anesthetic.] It’s funny because I’m not a drug taker and I drink only on occasion, but I was asking for that Pro-Nox [a brand name of one nitrous oxide formula used in operating rooms]. It did not hurt, but it was a lot of pulling and tugging and pressure and talking. I was very able to ask for more gas and to say, ‘I’m ok.’ If I winced, he would stop immediately and go, ‘Did you feel that?’ And I’d say, ‘Well, yes, sir.’ And he’d get more of the local anesthetic, then there would be no more discomfort and the tugging would just continue. [Editor’s note: We hadn’t heard of a surgeon using local anesthetic during a facelift before so we asked Dr. Shafer how common this is, and he raised some interesting points to chat about with your own doctor: “For the right patients, it is possible to offer local anesthetic or laughing gas. However, this is the exception and not the rule. The face is delicate with complicated anatomy and having an awake patient risks the patient moving around during the surgery, which adds more risk. Additionally, in terms of safety, surgeons performing facelifts under local anesthesia generally don't have another doctor in the room such as an anesthesiologist. When a patient is having traditional anesthesia, the anesthesiologist [focuses] 100% of their attention on the patient’s vitals and comfort while the surgeon can [focus] 100% of their attention on the actual procedure. With local anesthetic, the doctor is constantly distracted by the patient moving or needing more local anesthetic, etc., and can potentially lose focus on the procedure at hand. Fortunately, modern anesthesia is much safer and gentler than the anesthesia available when their mom or grandmother had surgery.” We asked Dr. Jordan about this, and in response he said, “Local anesthetic injections are very commonly used during facelift surgery — I can’t imagine doing one without them actually! They help both by blocking pain but also with bleeding, so I think the controversy is about using only local anesthetic, without general anesthetic or IV sedation. Over the last 10 years there has been a trend towards using local anesthesia along with oral sedation or lighter IV sedation as a safer way of performing surgery. There are many reports of this in the medical literature. Patients report less nausea and a quicker recovery with less anesthesia. Having said that, we are selective in who we use this technique [on] — they have to be in excellent health and of a calm nature. We do not hesitate to do the procedures in an outpatient operating room with more sedation or general anesthesia.”]
I was home before noon on the day of my surgery and I took a Percocet for the pain. After that, I switched to Extra Strength Tylenol, which I took twice a day for three days. When I walked in for my first check-up appointment two days after surgery, I said, ‘If we could just keep this swelling, it’ll save me a fortune in future filler.’ They about died laughing. It’s only been two weeks since my surgery, and even though I’m in pain right now with staples in my head, I would do it again tomorrow. I’d do it again today!”
Procedures: Mini facelift (in which only the lower third of the face is lifted and the incision site is smaller), neck lift, and lower blepharoplasty.
Surgeon: Konstantin Vasyukevich, MD, is a board-certified facial plastic surgeon in New York City.
Cost: approximately $37,500
“I had weight-loss surgery [and after] I lost a bunch of weight, my eyes just looked haggard and I had extra loose skin under my chin. I was getting filler under my eyes for quite a while, every four to five months. My frustration was that the filler sometimes looked good, sometimes it didn't. I wanted consistent results and Dr. Konstantin explained that a blepharoplasty and mini lift would be right for me.
“When you first come out of surgery, you don’t look that bad and then you proceed to look worse for three to four days. Everything gets bruised. About a week later, it looked like I got hit with a baseball bat. And then, 10 days later, I looked younger. I documented my daily pics in my social media feed. I wanted to share it because I feel like people are embarrassed or feel like this [getting a facelift] is a bad thing to do.
“I took prescribed painkillers for like three days. I didn’t take meds for long. Even when my face looked good again, it still felt numb, though. I would massage the skin to help bring the feeling back. The numbness is something I had to get used to for quite a few months. Then suddenly, I felt some tingling and I had my sensation back.
“Now people tell me that I look like my high school self. I was just on vacation and somebody thought my daughter and I were sisters, and I was like, ‘Thanks, but she’s my kid.’ Now just looking refreshed when I wake up is a great difference. I don’t look tired or withered. I feel like I wake up with a filter on. It’s pretty amazing.
“The only telltale sign is scarring behind the ears and back hairline for me. Nobody really notices it. My masseuse can see it, I’m sure my hairdresser can see it, but for the most part you’d have to be six inches from my ear to notice — and if you’re that close, you better be somebody I like.”
Procedure: Neck lift
Surgeon: David Shafer, MD, is a board-certified plastic surgeon in New York City.
Cost: approximately $45,000
“As a Latino man, I just wanna represent the best I can. I want to feel good inside. I project what I feel. If I don’t feel good about me, then everything else collapses. I don’t mind investing in me because if I can’t do it for me, no one else will.
“I wish that there were more before and after pictures of men available from plastic surgeons that I could’ve looked at. There are so few references. It’s like there’s a little bit of shaming or taboo there. Fortunately, a member of Dr. Shafer’s staff had a similar procedure done to what I wanted and I saw the results. So, I had the benefit of meeting [someone] that provided a real-life testimonial.
“I’ve had other body procedures done — chest, arms, buttocks — and some were grueling. I wasn’t sure if I could do it again because it’s so draining and painful. The face is more delicate, but the experience wasn’t as intense. I had the procedure done on a Thursday and I went back to the office on Monday. I wore a scarf.
“The healing was fine. I had an unexpected bump, though. Dr. Shafer has been treating it with an injection. Because of the bump, I started sporting somewhat of a beard. On a scale from 1 to 10, [how noticeable the bump is] it’s like a 0.5. By the time my next appointment comes, I wonder if I’ll even need another injection.” [Editor’s note: A swollen bump like this “after surgery isn’t typical, but it's also not alarming,” says Dr. Shafer, “A couple of shots of Kenalog, a steroid, helps take down the inflammation.”]
Procedures: Five lifts — deep-plane facelift, endoscopic brow lift, lip lift, and upper and lower blepharoplasties — along with fat transfer to the cheeks, temples, and hands, plus buccal fat removal (which takes fat out of the lower cheeks), and CO2 laser
Surgeon: Carl Truesdale, MD, is a board-certified facial plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills.
Cost: approximately $75,000
“I used to be a plus-size model before working for Dr. Truesdale. I had always been quite photogenic and that started to change as I aged. It was in my late 40s that I started seeing jowls and a double chin, but I never thought I’d have a facelift until we were taking photos for [our practice’s website]. I saw my pictures and caught the doctor’s eye and was like, ‘We have to fix this!’
“I had nine hours of surgery, but I was under IV sedation, not general anesthesia, so I didn’t feel nauseated [after] or anything. I took prescription pain medication for the first two days and then switched over to Tylenol. The compression bandage I had to wear around my face for three days after the surgery was the most uncomfortable part.
“I was back to work in a week. Granted, I work in a plastic surgeon’s office, so no one was surprised to see the state of my recovery. I was swollen, especially since I’d also had a CO2 laser treatment, which is like a second-degree burn to the face that added about a week to the healing. The worst part about healing from the CO2 laser was having to keep my skin moist and constantly having Aquaphor all over my face and my hands. I got sick of having Aquaphor in my hair. I nearly had to wash it out with dish soap. [Editor's note: CO2 lasers have been used since the 1990s to address fine lines and wrinkles, discoloration, and acne scars. They target the epidermis and dermis and the recovery from CO2 lasers involves crusting and oozing, followed by intense redness.]
“Even though I have the inside scoop and knew what to expect, I still had a day, around day three after surgery, when I got a bit overwhelmed. You’re sick of being in recovery. You start to question, ‘Why did I do this?’ But you have to trust the process. That feeling passes and I started to see the positive changes in my face.
“There’s something to be said for aging gracefully, but I’m not that girl. I don’t want to look 53. I want to look 40! Not only do I now look younger, but it was a big confidence boost for me after a tough couple of years. I wake up sexy. I’m dating again. The girls at work joke that I’m having too much fun. If I had to do it all over again, I'd do it in a heartbeat.”
*Unless otherwise noted, all prices include operating room and anesthesia fees.
To read more about plastic surgery:
- Blepharoplasty: The Eyelid Lifting Procedure Is on the Rise — But Is It Safe?
- Breast Lifts Are on the Way Up
- Inside Plastic Surgery’s Epidemic of Shady Before-and-After Photography
Now watch a video on 100 years of plastic surgery:
