At What Age Can Facial Contouring Surgery Be Performed? - Explained by a Plastic Surgery Specialist.

Hello, I’m Director Jo Hyun-woo of 입체성형외과.

After the CSAT ends and winter arrives, there is a question people ask often.

At what age can contour surgery be performed?

As also noted in textbooks, among the bones in our body, the facial bones are the last to finish growing.

Growth curve of the maxilla and mandible compared with Scammon’s growth curve

According to Scammon’s growth curve, which is the most well-known growth curve, facial bone growth is generally located between the neural and general body growth curves.

You can see that the mandible is closer to the general body growth curve than the maxilla.

The acceleration of the general body growth curve during puberty affects facial bone growth and corresponds with a dramatic increase in sexual development.

Usually, growth plates close around ages 17 to 19 for men and 16 to 18 for women, but the facial bones are the area where growth ends the latest. They grow slowly during childhood and then grow rapidly from the teenage years onward.

On average, growth continues until around ages 16 to 19, and you can think of the lower jawbone as the last to stop growing.

Before and after chin surgery for chin recession correction in the early 20s

In fact, textbooks say that growth ends around ages 16 to 19, but in some individuals it may end later.

In general, procedures such as double eyelid surgery do not cause any problem when done in middle or high school, because they are surgeries that simply stimulate the skin. However, for surgeries such as nose surgery or breast surgery, it is better to undergo them after the nasal bones have fully developed, and in the case of breast surgery, after the glandular tissue has fully matured. If a growth plate test shows that height growth is complete, it can be considered that breast maturity is also complete.

Before and after 230-degree cheekbone reduction, square jaw surgery, and chin surgery in the early 20s

If contour surgery is performed before bone growth has finished, unwanted results may occur, so you should make sure to check the growth plate test before proceeding with surgery.

Therefore, it is better to refrain from facial bone surgery during high school, and it would be best to think of the time after age 20 as the point at which facial contour surgery can begin.

Before and after 230-degree cheekbone reduction in the early 20s

Among the facial bones, the cheekbones finish growing first, and then the growth of the lower jawbone stops.

For that reason, surgeries on the lower jaw, such as square jaw surgery or chin surgery, are even less recommended during high school.

In the case of cheekbone surgery, the 230-degree three-dimensional cheekbone reduction, which involves only minimal osteotomy and can be performed at a slightly younger age than square jaw surgery, is considered sufficiently feasible.

Today we looked into the age at which contour surgery can be performed.

It is complicated, but simply put, you can think of it as being possible to have almost all surgeries after age 20, when entering university.

Thank you.