Download PDF file

Wish you looked a few years younger…but hate the idea of a face lift, with all that pain and expense? No problem! The latest dermatology and plastic surgery breakthroughs take off years without surgery

"You look fabulous! What’s your secret?” In the past, looking 10 years younger could only mean one thing: you’d had plastic surgery. And it was rarely a secret you could keep for long. If the results themselves weren’t glaringly obvious, the long weeks in recovery and telltale scars would give you away.

These days, the acceptance of plastic surgery has never been higher, and more women (and men) are opting for it than ever before. But like your age or your weight, why should everyone else know about it? The answer, say experts like Beverly Hills facial plastic surgeon William J. Binder, M.D., author of Management of Facial Lines and Wrinkles: they shouldn’t. “Gone are the days when a woman with a face lift had an obvious wind-tunnel or deer-in-the-headlights look,” he says. “Women want dramatic yet natural-looking results, with a minimum of pain.” And that’s exactly what they’re getting, thanks to brand new techniques like laser skin resurfacing, Botox injections, and more. Many of them don’t require anesthesia, much less going under the knife – and they’re much more affordable than surgery. Here are a few of the latest and best options today’s doctors can provide.

And even more natural-looking face lifts.

That’s what surgeons like Dr. Binder are producing with a two-step strategy called facial contouring, which combines a face lift with cheek and/or chin implants. “The implants replace the padding of fat we lose as we age,” he explains. “They fill out the face, avoiding the tight, hollow appearance that some face lifts can produce.” And while a wide range of standard facial implants are available, more and more doctors are creating their own – and custom-fitting them to a three-dimensional model of each individual patient’s face. “That way, we know the implant is going to look natural and flattering before we do the surgery,” Dr. Binder says. The procedure takes as little as 45 minutes, and recovery takes a matter of days for the implant surgery alone – about four hours and two or three weeks’ recovery time if combined with a face lift. Standard implants alone range from $3,000-$4,000, custom implants are about twice as much.