Moms Seek Facelifts for the Playground

Keeping up with the Joneses these days requires way more than a fancy car or new lawn furniture. Today, moms with means find that facelifts are the latest and greatest way to stay competitive with their neighbors at Parent Teacher Night or on the playground. 

Newport Beach, CA, plastic surgeon Boris Ackerman, MD, says that he regularly has women who have had children in their late 30s or 40s that come in looking to enhance their appearance to look as good, or better than the younger moms in their community. “I see it routinely. Women that are having children later in their lives are finding themselves in play date situations with moms significantly younger,” he says. “A facelift is a way for them to look as young as they feel.”

Traditionally, women would wait until around their 60s to have a facelift, but with techniques constantly improving and more subtle approaches to facial and neck plastic surgery, women can have work done earlier, with a more natural look.

Beverly Hills, CA, plastic surgeon Andrew Ordon, MD, says the facelift of today differs greatly from those of your mother’s generation. “It has dramatically changed for the better. It’s more based on results and science and we have a much better idea of what works and what doesn’t work. We want natural results so we know to pull the skin in a natural direction, which is vertical instead of pulling back. We realize you have to tighten the underlying tissue in a similar natural direction and we also know that part of aging is losing volume. Without question, we’ve become more refined with what we can do,” he says.  And that’s good news for older mothers with young children that are worried about looking old.

“If you have a child at 41 then you may look older than many women with children the same age as yours, and women that are self–conscious of that fact feel a disharmony,” says Ackerman. “With the right procedures, they can now look younger more naturally.”