Procedure: Lower Facelift
Location: New York, NY
Cost: $20,000
At 48 years old, Jacqui Anderson had experienced many of the trials and tribulations that come with raising three children, and her face was showing it. “I’ve had a lot of issues with kids that have taken their toll and I don’t know whether that aged me quicker, but I knew I had to do something,” says the Australian native. “Overtime, I had gained and then lost weight, and for some reason the skin on my face and neck just became extremely loose and crinkly. I was forever wearing scarves to try and cover my neck, pulling up my collar or wearing turtlenecks— I just hated it. Every time I looked in the mirror I thought, I shouldn’t look like this at my age.”
You May Also Like: 4 Different Types of Facelifts You Need to Know About
Eventually, Anderson, who had already been seeing New York plastic surgeon David Rapaport, MD, for CoolSculpting treatments, decided to do something about the loose skin on her face and neck that was causing her to appear much older. “I actually wasn’t going to have a facelift,” recalls Anderson. “I was going to try Kybella, and two minutes before I was going to have those injections, Dr. Rapaport said, ‘I don’t think you’re going to get the results you’re looking for. It’s not going to pull the skin. To get the outcome you’re looking for, you need to have the facelift.’”
“I went home and spoke to my husband and he said, ‘You know what, if you really want to do this, you should do it for yourself.’ I actually scheduled it, and like two days later I was in having a facelift.”
For Dr. Rapaport, urging Anderson to undergo a facelift instead of Kybella injections was a no-brainer. “Kybella does a modest amount of skin tightening and a modest amount of fat removal,” he explains. “But with a lower facelift I was able to remove a significant amount of excess fat under her chin and re-drape the skin on her neck. The outcome of the two procedures are 100 percent not comparable.”
You May Also Like: 6 Things You Should Know If You’re Thinking About Getting a Facelift
As far as the procedure, Dr. Rapaport says a lower facelift is basically the surgery that comes to mind when people think of a facelift. “Most facelifts are lower facelifts. Facelift terminology is very confusing to consumers. When a plastic surgeon discusses a facelift to another plastic surgeon, we’re really talking about a lower facelift in the majority of cases. It addresses primarily the neck and jowls and to some degree the midface. It typically does not involve significant pain at all. There’s a feeling of tightness, but pain is quite unusual from a facelift.”
The split-second decision is one Anderson says she will never regret. “It was just the best thing I ever did; I look 10 years younger. People always said my daughter and I looked very similar and now they say we look like sisters, which she doesn’t like, but makes me very happy. Now I can wear lower cut and off the shoulder tops. My confidence has improved by 100 percent!”
It’s important to note that the cost of plastic surgery can differ greatly based on various factors, including location and the experience and training of your surgeon. “The cost for a facelift varies widely depending on where it’s being done geographically, who is doing it and what particular components the procedure includes,” says Dr. Rapaport. “As a general rule of thumb, I would say a total price for a facelift varies anywhere from $10,000 to $20,000, and possibly higher.”
