I am 36 years old.
Do I need a facelift?
My forehead and cheeks are sagging and it makes me look very depressed.
I have to constantly hold a more uplifted expression on my face to combat the sagging.
My eyes look very small because my forehead is almost sagging down onto the brow area.
The area around my mouth is extremely droopy, in my opinion, and I have a serious frown
if I don't smile.
Also, when I smile my eyebrows become very uneven.
Thank you for your question!
You’re asking at the age of 36 if you should have a facelift and in your question, you
described concerns about the forehead drooping down to the eyebrows.
Your facial expression being sad and how your cheeks are sagging and you submitted a photo
that is certainly very helpful.
Well, to give you a little background about myself, I’m a board certified cosmetic surgeon
certified by the American Board of Cosmetic Surgery and I’ve been in practice for over
20 years.
I’m also a specialist in oculofacial plastic surgery and I’ve been practicing in Manhattan
and Long Island for this time.
So face lifting, facial rejuvenation surgery is something I do a lot.
And I’ve mentioned in past questions that my youngest patient I’ve ever made a facelift
for was 37 years old.
Now when I look at your photo, and I get a general feel of your appearance.
My first question to you is your appearance at age of 36 a significant change from when
you were 34 or 35.
Basically, I try to dissuade patients or in your age group to having very invasive procedures
like facelift.
And a lot of times, when we evaluate someone like yourself, the skin just doesn’t move.
And very often it’s a combination of lesser invasive procedures that have some value.
First and foremost, we have to make sure that there hasn’t been any physical, medical
or even emotional stresses in your life that can be affecting your appearance whether it’s
the way the fat is distributed, whether you gained weight.
Basically lifestyle factors are things that I always establish before we discuss procedures.
There are certainly many options to help you look a little better.
Looking at your upper eyelids, maybe there’s a role of addressing the perception of the
brow and the forehead sagging by maybe reducing the upper eyelid skin with a conservative
upper eyelid blepharoplasty.
There may be even be less invasive doing some kind of a botox brow lift.
In other words, using botox in a way to raise the brows a little bit.
When it comes to areas like the outer corners of the mouth or the mesolabial folds, there
are times when we do filler to help soften that for just people who may not be ready
for a lift or for people to kind of soften these many harsh expressions or strong expressions
but there are certainly a lot of different options.
But again, there is something that comes to mind when we talk to someone like yourself
who is in their mid 30s: are the elements of your facial appearance that you are unhappy
with, are they’re genetics aggravated by or accelerated by other life-related issues
medical and otherwise.
And ultimately, you have to come up with a plan that is practical for you but avoiding
surgery is probably a first priority from now.
There are certainly a lot of different options out there for people in your age group without
going towards the facelift.
As I said, 37 was the age I ever did a facelift for a patient but this patient also had a
very thin face, a very loose skin.
it was a genetic trait and a very limited facelift.
It’s not the type of lift I would do in a 67 year old.
So I think that it’s more important that you meet with qualified experienced cosmetic
surgeons.
Meet with a doctor who’s going to spend a lot of time with you.
I think that’s one of the things that I really value tremendously in my practice.
I spend a lot of time with my patients and I want to learn about their lifestyle.
There’s so much to health, fitness, wellbeing that has be factored in when we think of any
success of any cosmetic procedure.
That’s my personal perspective, and it’s important to integrate that.
We can’t take someone who is dealing with a lot of issues that need outside intervention
whether it’s health or physical, emotional stress and make them look better, make them
a little bit better but certainly, it’s all integrated.
It all has to work together.
So I would say meet with a doctor you feel comfortable with and discuss your options
and really learn about them and then prioritize them so that you can intelligently and strategically
do things that you won’ t later regret.
So I hope that was helpful, I wish you the best of luck and thank you for your question!