Question:
I am 43 years old. Many years ago an older friend told me you should get your first facelift when you are 50 years old to maintain your looks for later in life. Is this true or is there a rule of thumb as to when you should have a facelift?
Answer:
A facelift is an excellent procedure and in our office, as the years have gone on in my 25 years of practice, we seem to be doing facelifts on younger and younger patients all the time. Most of that has to do with the awareness of people who choose to have their facelifts at an earlier age. A facelift is certainly an appropriate procedure and can be done as long as there is need for it. If you are 43 years old and you have significant jowls or some drooping that you do not like and your neck is beginning to show some problems, you can certainly begin to have a facelift at that age. You are never burning any bridges because if the facelift is done right it can be repeated one, two or even three times if needed over the years.
The nice thing about doing a facelift at an early age is that the amount of work done is usually minimal to get an excellent result and at a time in your life when you are very busy and outgoing, you are also looking your best. Again, it is certainly not too young to do a facelift at 43 years old just as long as there is actually something that can be improved by the surgery itself and it has no affect on whether you get one later in life because you can still do excellent work ten years down the line if you should require more work done at that point.