Saving Face: Nonsurgical Facelifts

Nonsurgical Cosmetic Treatments

(Photo: Dan Saelinger)

We've all seen pictures of terribly taut facelifts that went too far. But the millions of women who indulge in less invasive cosmetic procedures every year are a much subtler, stealthier crew. In fact, a flurry of new treatments is causing many women to find facelifts (even those done by highly skilled surgeons) less desirable than they used to be. About 600,000 American women ages 40 to 54 had cosmetic surgery in 2006 -- a scant 1 percent increase over the year before -- while more than four million tried new cosmetic procedures, a jump of about 10 percent.

Women have a lot of choices these days when it comes to high-tech rejuvenation. Botox injections temporarily paralyze facial muscles to soften wrinkles, furrows, and tension lines. Temporary fillers flesh out hollows beneath the eyes and restore plumpness to the lips; lasers, lights, and other energy devices reduce crinkles, sags, and spots. For these procedures, however, as with facelifts, choosing a qualified practitioner is critical to getting good results.

New treatments also deliver in ways that cosmetic surgery can't. "If people got a little bit jowly or noticed the eyebrows or eyelids coming down, everybody used to think, well, that's gravity; let's have a face- or forehead lift," says David Bank, MD, director of the Center for Dermatology, Cosmetic and Laser Surgery, in Mount Kisco, New York. "But we've realized it's not just that gravity pulls everything straight down, it's more like a tire slowly going flat. The move has been toward restoring the volume that has been lost."

Cost really isn't a deciding factor when choosing between surgery and less invasive procedures. Tally twice-a-year injections of the filler Restylane into your smile lines, for example, and you're likely to surpass the price of a facelift in four years. But even if there are no savings with injectable treatments, there are other reasons to consider postponing surgery. "The first facelift usually lasts five to 10 years, and subsequent lifts last three to five years," says C. Lisa Kauffman, MD, professor of dermatology at Georgetown University School of Medicine. "The lifts last for shorter and shorter intervals as the skin stretches out, so the more you can delay doing major facelifts, the better off you are."

Of course, cosmetic enhancement isn't for everyone; but in case you're curious, here is the lowdown on both the old-school and the latest treatments.

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