But there is another influential force here. Over the past few years, surgeons have witnessed GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic, Zepbound and Wegovy. Once they achieve a body they never had, they hope to meet face to face. Unlike facelift patients who dream of looking like decades ago, clearly few patients seek surgery with dramatic weight loss heels. They are looking for an upgrade. The longing is particularly strong in the case of “Ozempic Face,” with rapid weight loss making your face look older than that year. “We lost 100 pounds in our late 30s and had several people coming in for a facelift,” says Dr. Rosenberg. “I did a 28-year-old facelift (for this reason), and she (she says) looks better than she’s ever lived.”
“In my mind, I don’t want to be a surgeon who changes the faces of young women.”
But let’s be clear. The majority of patients with “beautifying lift” are still over 40 years old. Dr. Lawkies says that every time he posts results for a young facelift patient, his office is being attacked with a phone call of 30-35 who thinks facelift is the answer to something troublesome. However, on the under-40 set, he dismisses 90% of the facelift seekers. For him or the few people caught up in him, “mostly in the context of large-scale weight loss or connective tissue disorders,” he says, that could lead to premature aging.
Dr. Chance can count on the other hand the number of 30s she has lifted over the past five years. (There were three, all with a genetically large neck and an indisputable yaurin.) Her patients range from 45 to 70 years old, say most of them in their early 50s. “I don’t feel socially responsible for people who don’t have a little aging of age, like those in their 30s who have collagen disorders and massive weight loss, that are chins and drooping and drooping aging in their 30s,” she says. “But in my mind, I don’t want to be a surgeon who changes the faces of young women.”
Criticism and controversy
Ethical physicians do so if treatment is not guaranteed or if the patient shows signs of health problems, unrealistic expectations, or physical abnormalities. “If they see what I’m not looking, or if I can’t give them what I want, I won’t work,” says Dr. Rosenberg. Generally speaking, surgeons need evidence of buffering (regardless of goal) to perform facelifts. It may not be clear in social media squirting, but it should be detectable in the test. “It’s a great litmus test,” says Dr. Letzede. “It’s about having the patient bend his neck by looking down. (At 48, I recommend avoiding this movement at all costs.) When assessing the possibility of facelifting, Dr. Rosenberg reviews old photos of the patients to see how they have changed, he feels his face and looks for looseness. If his face is tight and doesn’t move, he sends them out by inviting him to come back in the future.
“The margins of errors are narrower. We need to approach these cases with greater restraint and artistic accuracy.”
Regardless of the circumstances, surgeons who facelift patients of unconventional age may often be taken online for tasks. Dr. Rad has some experience with this. His glorification results of a patient in his 30s stimulate both praise and scrutiny, including multiple invasive procedures and deep flat facelifts, including skeletal changes (nose work, mid-face implants, slim jawlines), and more. Social media critics wonder why so young people need such extensive work. As Dr. Rad explains, younger patients are increasingly seeking procedures to enhance contours and proportions, even in patients who are not quite sagging, without adding artificial volume. “They see that early, subtle, well-planned surgical refinement looks more natural than chasing or following years of trends,” he says. In such cases, a facelift is a tool for engraving rather than lifting. However, if the goal is “a subtle elevation (of appearance) than a restoration,” he adds, “the margin of error will be narrowed, and we need to approach these cases with increased restraint and artistic accuracy.”
