In my last post I wrote about a few cosmetic procedures that are taken care of in the hospital. In this post I’m writing about procedures that take place in your doctor’s office.

What is interesting is that the facelift is not as popular as it once was. Many people are focusing on what is called lunchtime lifts which focus on the mid-face and cheek or mini lifts which deal with the jaw line and neck. People don’t want to go through the pain and a long recovery of a facelift.

Both the lunchtime lifts and mini-lifts are performed in-office under local anesthetic or mild sedation, and take about an hour. Recovery is about one week and costs are $4,500 – $5000 for each.

Others are opting for fillers such as Restylane and Juvederm which help eliminate deep and fine lines. Then there are the Botox injections, a muscle relaxant that works on your crow’s feet and other creases such as the one between your eyes. Lots of people like these because they are not surgery and they are affordable. Fillers can run from $450 to $700 an injection and you usually need to repeat them over a period of time.

From my conversations with plastic surgeons, people need to be more realistic about recovery time and the fact that there might be pain. What ever you do it won’t be an overnight miracle. You may not need recovery time, for example, but you may feel uncomfortable for several weeks and there may be bruises.

My advice if you are thinking about any of these procedures is to make an appointment and then consult with the physician.  Take someone along with you to ask the questions you forget.  Make sure you and the doctor have the same idea and philosophy you do.  And ask to talk with some of the doctor’s patients who had the procedure.  After all, it’s your face!  Make the most of it.

To your healthy aging success.

Ruthan brodsky

One of the gals I play bridge with decided to have a few facial proceduresbecause her grandchildren kept asking her if she were angry.

“I would tell them I’m not angry, this is just the way I look. The last time they asked this I thought I had better take care of this.”

Carolyn is 63 and works part time as a conference organizer for large organizations. This fall she had three facial procedures: blepharoplasty (an eyelid lift), full-face laser resurfacing, and fat injections.

“Now my grandchildren say I look happy all the time.”

Carolyn is among the growing trend across the county of patients 55 and older who now make up one-quarter of the more than 12 million cosmetic procedures performed in the U.S. (American Society of Plastic Surgeons, ASPS). Despite the poor economy that number is up slightly from last year and patients ages 40 to 54 accounted for 47 percent of all procedures done.

Obviously today’s seniors are more health conscious and like many of us, they look in the mirror and even though they feel younger, they still look older. When senior men and women feel good physically it makes sense that they focus cosmetic procedures on their face. Look at these figures for 2008: those 55 and older had 48% of all blepharoplasties, 43% of all laser skin resurfacing, and 66% of all facelifts performed in the U.S. last year.

The eyelift removes excess skin and fatty tissue and reduces bags and wrinkles. The CO2 laser skin resurfacing, using a computer generated laser to vaporize skin layers and cause thermal damage is the next most popular procedure. The laser process results in tighter skin and has a positive effect on lines and wrinkles and pigmentation.  Both treatments are performed in a hospital under general anesthetic and recovery takes a couple of weeks. The eye lift costs around $6000 and the laser procedure close to $7000 including hospital costs.

I haven’t seen the results yet because she is now babysitting her grandchildren in another state. But I did talk to her and she sounds so very happy.

Do you have any plans for any facial procedures? Will you share your reason why you made that choice? I think we all need to be better informed and not make such hasty judgments.

To your success at healthy aging,

Ruthan Brodsky