Long Island plastic surgeons say facelifts are having a moment

For more than 30 years, Janine Giorgenti has been an image consultant and fashion designer for high-powered business executives, public figures and celebrities.

So when she looked in the mirror and decided to get a facelift — 20 years ago and again two years ago — she has been frank about the surgeries.

“If I’m telling people how they should look, they’re looking at me, so I have to look my best,” said the 70-year-old founder of Giorgenti New York, based in Garden City. “Years ago there was shame or whatever to admit you had a facelift. But in today’s world, with people getting Botox, with people getting fillers — gosh, you can’t even open up a magazine without seeing something like this — I don’t see where this is a taboo thing anymore.”

Facelifts may be having what Long Island plastic surgeons and a trade association describe as a “major moment.”

Not just celebrities and the rich, but more middle-income earners have been asking for rejuvenated looks, despite paying $20,000 to $100,000 out of pocket because cosmetic surgeries are usually not covered by insurance.

Each year for the past five years, facelifts have ranked among the top three plastic surgeries, along with eye lifts and nose jobs, according to the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. Several factors drive this popularity, from the explosion of online meetings during the pandemic to the sagging skin of many people who have recently lost significant amounts of weight through use of GLP-1 drugs, the academy reported.

In fact, these cosmetic surgeries are one element in the growing focus on longevity, experts said. In 2024, 89% of the trade association’s members said at least 75% of their work consisted of facial plastic surgery. In addition, more men and younger people were undergoing surgical facelifts, according to the group’s statistics. Baby boomers returning to the dating scene had caused spikes in the number of cosmetic procedures on their faces and bodies, according to a 2019 report from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, based in Arlington Heights, Illinois, while in another trend, “menopause makeovers” correct the drooping brows, looser eyelids and the development of jowls caused by hormonal changes, reported the Alexandria, Virginia-based American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.

“We’d like to think that this is a reboot of how we feel,” said plastic surgeon Hardik Doshi, who specializes in facelifts and has offices in Long Beach, Huntington and Manhattan. “We’re hopefully giving them a match in terms of how they look and how they feel. We do encourage our patients to kind of embrace this change and be more positive and live a healthier lifestyle.”

Facelifts don’t carry the stigma they did decades ago, Long Island plastic surgeons said, and techniques have improved to avoid the windswept or “wind tunnel” appearance that limited facial expression.

A CELEB LIFT FOR FACELIFTS

Perhaps as evidence of the facelift’s “major moment,” social media and plastic surgery circles went gaga last year over the dramatic new looks of a high-profile figure.

The youthful, dewy appearance of media personality Kris Jenner, co-creator of “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” fueled demand for facelifts, several plastic surgeons said. Images of Jenner launched a news and social media buzz about the type of facelift she had. She was at the time 69, but social media commenters mused that she looked as young as her daughters, made famous by their family reality show.

Although Jenner and her surgeon did not release details about the type of facelift she had, Jenner’s results gave people confidence in facial surgeries, and many potential clients inquired about getting the procedure she had, said plastic surgeon Neil Tanna, vice president of Women’s Surgical Services at Northwell Health and a professor at Hofstra University’s Zucker School of Medicine in Hempstead.

More celebrities have been talking about their cosmetic surgeries, he said, adding that the “crazy” part is hearing laypeople use science terms like “deep plane” and “SMAS” (superficial musculo-aponeurotic system) facelifts or “SMAS plication.”

“It’s good to see that the pendulum has swung back to where people are openly talking about it,” Tanna said. “Patients are definitely using the terminology. They’re more sophisticated, and they’re more well-informed. That’s the good thing about people putting their journey out there.”

OUTSIDE AGE, INSIDE AGE

One of the biggest drivers in the demand for facelifts is also one big contradiction.

“I felt like I was younger inside, but I felt like I looked older on the outside,” said Susan Prescia, a surgical technician from Deer Park.

At age 54 last year, Prescia said she felt about 10 years younger but was used to hearing from people that she looked tired.

She couldn’t stand seeing the sagging skin on her neck, which she said ruined the delineated jawline she had as a younger woman: “I don’t care if I weigh 500 pounds, but I think the neck kind of shows your age more than anything.”

So this past February, Prescia decided she had done enough for her family — taking care of her mother, paying kids’ college tuition and tending to her grandchild — and committed to something that was just for her: A face, neck and brow lift.

In the weeks after her surgery, she bought five necklaces, drawing attention to her revitalized neck and jawline.

“It’s definitely life-changing,” Prescia said of her facelift. “I just feel so much more confident. I feel like I could be tired, but I’d still look fresh. I’m not going to sit here and think I’m a supermodel. But I feel like I got myself back.”

In turning back time, patients should review a “menu” of options that also includes less invasive procedures, such as Botox, fillers and laser treatments, Tanna said.

“It’s not just about looking younger but correcting things that bother us,” he said.

People nowadays live longer and healthier, doctors said, but several factors can age their appearance. These include smoking, hormonal changes due to menopause, lack of sleep, sun damage and stress, experts said.

Holbrook resident Corinne Zink was a month shy of 69 in June 2021 when she got a facelift from Tanna to look her best for her daughter’s wedding that September.

“I realized I was getting older, but I didn’t feel over 60,” she recalled.

Now 73, Zink recounts how her facelift minimized her jowls and sagging skin so subtly that most people had no idea she had something done: “I took two weeks off from work. When I came back, people said to me ‘You look like you had a great vacation.’  ”

BOOST IN DEMAND FROM WEIGHT-LOSS DRUGS

Hauppauge plastic surgeon Mark Epstein, who treated Giorgenti, said his practice has gotten so busy that he needs more surgeons.

He calls one factor the “Zoom effect.” Online meetings, in which we see ourselves and others, have been a staple of life since the pandemic. On top of that, the popularity of posting selfies on social media has made people more conscious of their appearances.

“Our digital images are everywhere,” Epstein said, “and we’re constantly looking at ourselves and each other. As the images get to higher and higher resolution, so would our facial flaws.”

The second trend driving his growing patient demand, Epstein said, is what he and industry insiders call “Ozempic face.” Ozempic and other GLP-1 weight-loss drugs cause the pounds to disappear rapidly, mimicking the effects of aging.

“You see loss of volume in the mid face and sagging in the neck and the jaws,” Epstein said.

About 20% of his facelifts stem from use of weight-loss drugs, he said.

Almost half the surgeons polled by the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery reported a noticeable rise in patients seeking procedures to correct for the cosmetic effects of the weight-loss drugs.

In some cases, patients undergoing weight-loss facelifts require transplants of fat from other parts of the body to fill in areas of the face, such as deflated cheeks, experts said.

While most facelift clients are 55 and above, the GLP-1 phenomenon has drawn younger clients to Doshi’s office.

The surgeon recently treated a business executive who was about 40 years old and who had lost 120 pounds: “She said, ‘I’m getting married, and I want to look better.’ It made sense because there was a lot of facial aging that occurred because of her dramatic weight loss.”

THE GENDER GAP

When construction executive Scott Horak sat recently for a facelift consultation, he was one of a growing number of men interested in cosmetic surgeries — for the same reasons as women.

His sister years ago had a facelift, and he saw its positive effects on her, he recalled. Plus, he has been wanting to change his drooping eyes and neck, regardless of what others think about him getting a cosmetic procedure, he said.

“Everybody was saying ‘What are you doing? You look great,’ ” said the Lido Beach resident, 68.

His biggest fear is a botched surgery, he said. Horak researched plastic surgeons online and suggests anyone in his position ask not to just to talk to good references but also to patients whose surgeries did not turn out 100%.

While an old cliche says men age gracefully, Horak said he just wants a little help doing so. “I feel like I’m in my 30s still. . . . The thing is you don’t want the doctor to make you look like a different person. I want to look like who I am.”