Is facial contouring surgery possible even at an older age? Important things you should know

Hello, this is Director Jo Hyun-woo of 3D Plastic Surgery.

Recently, many people in their 50s and 60s have been asking whether contouring surgery is possible.

For people who take good care of themselves, there are those who look like they are in their 30s or 40s even in their 50s or 60s, and there must be many who want to improve the contour line they have worried about since they were young.

So, can people in their 50s and 60s also have contouring surgery?

The answer is, of course, yes. However, there are a few things to be careful about.

As we age, one of the representative visible changes is the change in soft tissue.

As we get older, the fat in our face decreases, so volume is reduced.

At the same time, the skin sags, leading to wrinkles and drooping like this.

However, aging does not only change the soft tissue.

These are the changes in the facial bones that occur with aging.

At first glance, bones seem very hard and unlikely to change, but in fact, although bones are hard, it is more accurate to think of them as solid structures that can move 조금씩.

Therefore, as we age, the cheekbone also gradually sags downward as shown in the figure above, and the bone in the black-marked areas undergoes resorption, reducing the bone volume. You can also see that the front of the cheekbone, the lower part of the square jaw bone, and the lower jaw gum bone are decreasing.

So how should contouring surgery be approached for older patients?

In my case, I tell people in their 50s and 60s not to overdo bone surgery.

As people age, the speed at which bones heal together becomes slower.

In the past, surgery was performed after checking for osteoporosis, but in fact, if you are older, reduced bone formation is a normal part of the aging process, so I do not think it has much significance.

The principle I think for contouring surgery in the 50s and 60s is to avoid osteotomy as much as possible.

If you want to perform chin surgery with a T-osteotomy method to make the bone solid, bone healing is slower, so rather than T-osteotomy surgery, we perform shaving, that is, surgery that removes bone without cutting it by using a mandibular inferior border resection method.

T-osteotomy method

Square jaw surgery, chin surgery (T-osteotomy)

Mandibular inferior border resection method

Square jaw surgery, chin surgery (mandibular inferior border resection)

Second, I do not recommend removing an excessive amount in square jaw surgery.

As you saw in the figure above, as we age, the bone volume decreases and the bone disappears from the inferior border upward.

Therefore, if too much of the square jaw bone is removed, I think that over time the bone will be resorbed more and less bone will remain, which could make the area unstable.

We try to keep square jaw surgery as conservative as possible.

The last point is cheekbone surgery.

I have many concerns about cheekbone surgery.

In fact, if you want to see a strong surgical effect, it is right to perform a general 3D cheekbone surgery.

However, in the case of 3D cheekbone surgery, there are two osteotomy sites, so two areas require a fusion process, and for older patients, bone fusion takes longer, so it is difficult to recommend it readily.

3D cheekbone surgery method

So, for older patients, I recommend 230-degree 3D cheekbone surgery, even if the effect is slightly less.

230-degree 3D cheekbone surgery is performed in the following way.

230-degree 3D cheekbone surgery method

Because complete osteotomy is not performed in the 45-degree cheekbone area, which is called the body of the cheekbone, only the posterior cheekbone area needs to heal well.

Therefore, the 45-degree cheekbone area is partially osteotomized, and the posterior cheekbone area is firmly fixed with fixation pins so that it can fuse quickly.

Sometimes, for people who want to reduce as much as possible, we also perform 3D cheekbone surgery, and fusion progresses without any particular major problems, but the recovery speed seems a little slower.

Another thing you should know is that recovery speed in older patients seems to be somewhat different.

Compared with people in their 20s and 30s, there are definitely some cases where the difference is significant.

Swelling may last longer, or bruising may linger longer.

Cheekbone surgery recovery process

But swelling does eventually go down, so there is no need to worry too much.

Lastly, what I would like to mention is likely cheek sagging and lower jaw sagging.

Compared with younger people, aging has already progressed and there is sagging, so if you undergo contouring surgery that further reduces volume, the sagging may appear more severe.

Therefore, for older patients, it would be better to approach surgery with the expectation of considering a procedure to address skin sagging afterward.

It is not something that must absolutely be done, but if you have surgery thinking there will be no sagging at all and later notice sagging, it may be difficult. If you go into surgery with the idea that you may need a lifting procedure later, you may be able to watch the recovery process a little more comfortably after surgery.

Cheekbone surgery, chin surgery recovery process

Today, we looked at contouring surgery for middle-aged people in their 50s and 60s, and discussed things that are good to know in advance.

At this point, people in their 50s and 60s are also at an age where they are very active socially, so contouring surgery is still very approachable.

Just because you are older does not mean you absolutely cannot have surgery, so do not worry too much. If you think about it once, I believe you can achieve sufficiently good results. Thank you.