• “How can I look younger?”
• “It seems like my face aged overnight!”
• “I hate the way I look!”
• “I want to look like myself – but a better version of me.”
• “Menopause ruined my face – help!”
• “I want to look natural!”

I have heard every one of these comments in my consultation room, some of them hundreds of times. The next question, which can be spoken boldly by my patients, or asked extremely meekly, is usually “Dr. Weintraub, what is the right age for a face lift?”

As your face ages, certain things will happen. Here’s what you can expect:

• The eyes suffer from excess skin. This can bother a woman when she puts on eye makeup. Because the upper-eyelid skin hoods onto lashes, it can smudge eyeliner, mascara, and make it impossible to apply eye shadow. Excess eyelid skin, and puffy bags underneath, make you look tired and old. Men experience this as often as women, and many executives (male and female) find that sagging, tired eyes impede their sense of power in the business world, as does a weak chin and sagging neck (discussed below).
• The nose droops. What was an attractive nose in your twenties and thirties can look more downturned and large as you age, partly due to the loss of subcutaneous fat in the face, which can cause a disproportionate relationship between the nose and the face. This brings us to point #3.
• The face loses its volume. Cheeks grow hollow, eyes become gaunt, and wrinkles develop more deeply because the fat of our youth begins to fade and we are left with faces that show the ravages of time.
• Jowls form (those saggy parts that cross the jawline). The underlying structure of the face is supported by the SMAS, a deep layer that, as we age, loses elasticity and “stretches out” from north to south. When the jowls extend over the jawline, women’s faces look more square, less heart-shaped, and therefore more masculine. Men’s faces look less strong, powerful, and chiseled when jowls hang over their jawlines.
• The neck skin loses elasticity and begins to resemble a turkey gobbler. Men complain that their necks sag over their shirt collars, and that they have “double chins.” Women are forced to wear scarves or turtlenecks, and no longer feel comfortable in evening dresses.

When you look in the mirror and say, “I hate the way I look! I don’t want to see this any longer” you know that it is truly the right time to have surgery, because the above characteristics can set in after age 40 due to genetics, lifestyle, and overall health. A facelift can correct each and every issue listed above, taking away the puffiness of the eyes, creating a proportionate and elegant nose, giving volume to the face, erasing the jowls, sharpening the jawline and tightening the neck. The most difficult thing is not the surgery, but finding the right surgeon. How do you find the top plastic surgeon for facelift surgery? What surgeon does celebrity plastic surgery? Who is the best plastic surgeon in NYC? My best advice is always to do your research! Try to find a board certified plastic surgeon with years of experience, and come prepared with questions so that you can make the most of your consultation!