According to a study conducted by researchers writing for the Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery, plastic surgery makes patients look about seven years younger on an average. In some cases, the patients look even younger. Even though plastic surgery has been giving positive results for decades, there has not been any data that doctors can use to demonstrate its effects to their patients. Most of these surgeries are done in the form of face lifts, eye lid surgeries and forehead lifts. Non-invasive techniques like using dermal fillers have become extremely popular, as they are less expensive and entail minimal downtime.
Implications of the study
Doctors who worked on the study indicated that the numbers are not as vital as the trend that it demonstrates. Every patient comes with different objectives and varying pre-operative states. For the study, 40 medical students were recruited to examine the “before” and “after” photos of 60 people they had previously operated on for anti-ageing issues. The patients were mostly women between the ages of 45 to 72 years of age at the time of their surgery.
After evaluating the “before” pictures, the students concluded that the patients were about one or two years younger than their real age. The “after” shots led the students to think the patients were around 9 years younger than their actual age. This number was higher than what the patients had perceived it to be prior to the operation.
Patients who got only a face or neck lift appeared about 5 years younger, according to the experiment. Patients who had their eyelids worked upon were assumed to be about 7 years younger and those who had forehead lifts were evaluated as 8.4 years younger. Combining all these figures gave an average of 7.2 years reduction in a persons’ visible age after the surgeries. A lot of patients are combining dermal fillers with plastic surgery for improved results.
More convenient alternatives
Even though facial surgery is popular, it has largely been replaced by other procedures. Dermal fillers, wrinkle freeze treatments and laser therapy are non-invasive, more affordable techniques that yield similar results. The only difference being that these treatments are not permanent and need to be done over a couple of sessions. These procedures are ideal for professionals and those with a busy schedule. With new innovations every day, cosmetic procedures are getting better and safer.
