Will losing 20lb affect my deep plane facelift results?

Question

Will losing 20 pounds (10 kilos) affect my deep plane facelift results? My surgeon said my face will look even better if I get fitter after the surgery but now I have seen comments that losing more than 10 pounds will affect the results. I have 20 extra pounds and haven’t been able to lose them due to back problems. I was planning to start losing them after I heal from the facelift but am I carrying too much extra weight? I’m not obese, my bmi is normal atm, though.

Hakim Said, MD, FACS · Answer

Hi Joan, 
This is a great question about timing surgery with weight loss. Of course, the ideal situation is to reach a stable ideal weight and stay there for a while before surgery. The tricky part is sometimes knowing when you have reached a stable point, especially since many people cycle in a range all the time, and that is normal. I like to tell people that 20 lbs or less of weight fluctuation has a modest to minimal impact on tightness. More than that (like 30# or more) will start to require a revision to retighten a surgical result. That threshold really depends on age and skin elasticity and genetic factors. I have seen patients spring back after more weight loss than that and still look good, but 20# is a point where most people will still look fine. Also you never know if this is actually your new stable weight, and you might be waiting forever for the number to get lower than that. So, if you are within 20# of your goal, I would say you are basically ready for surgery, and unlikely to mess it up even with a little more weight loss. Go for it!
Hope that helps!

Jeffrey H. Spiegel, MD · Answer

If you are a small person where losing 20 lbs is significant, then it may matter a lot.  It also depends upon your age. A young, larger person could lose 20 lbs and look better. An older or small person will lose 20 lbs and the face will now look less tight and some wrinkles could return. It is best to be close to your preferred weight at the time of surgery, but if you are not, there are other variables to consider!

Brian M. Harmych, MD, FACS · Answer

Deep plane facelift results can be affected by weight loss since weight loss would cause a decrease in facial fat volume. However, weight loss will affect deep plane facelift results less than traditional facelift or SMAS facelift. If your BMI is normal, you may not need to worry about this as much.

Daniel J. Gould, MD, PhD · Answer

Weight loss before surgery is a good idea, in fact it will dramatically improve your recovery and it will improve your ultimate results at the ideal weight you ultimately maintain.

Georgios Orfaniotis MD, FRCS(Plast) · Answer

It depends. When it comes to facelift surgery, loosing weight is not as important as it is in other breast and body procedures. On the other hand losing 10 kilos may still have an impact on some facial areas. Some people may lose facial volume, which can be easily replaced by fat grafting- something that may have not been part of the original planning when you were 10kg heavier. Every face is unique and you may fall into this category where the face remains unchanged despite weight loss. In my opinion however, for optimal results, all cosmetic surgery should be planned and performed when patients are close to their ideal weight. Best wishes

Andrew Miller, MD · Answer

That can be a tricky question and depends on your neck condition preoperatively. If your skin is pretty loose, then you may want to lose the weight first. Ten pounds is no problem, but twenty is starting to push it a little. If your neck skin is not too loose, then you should be fine.

George Yang, MD · Answer

Hi Joan, This a very good question. I will use an analogy to try to explain my thought process. If a person is 20 lbs over their ideal weight and wants to tailor their "loose" pants which is 2-3 inches too big, would it make sense to tailor their pants now to their current size which is 2-3 inches smaller, or to wait until their 20 lbs weight loss and they may lose another 2-5 inches. To me, it makes more sense to be patient and wait until the person reaches their goal weight and do the tailoring once. If the tailor wants to be busy, then they could tailor once now and if the person actually does achieve the weight loss, then there is another possible tailoring opportunity. Since we are talking about surgery and surgical fees in the tens of thousands of dollars, the possibility of a revision face and necklift after losing more facial fat is less appealing than spending another $40-60 to tailor the pants even smaller. The other possibility is that the surgeon doesn't think you should lose another 20 lbs, since you have a normal BMI and you are not obese. If you lose too much weight your face will look worse, since older faces are typically more gaunt than young faces. I hope that my reply was helpful. Good luck. Best, Dr. Yang

Ronald J. Edelson, MD · Answer

I doubt that losing 20  pounds will have a negative on your facelift and I think your surgeon is right. More than likely that you would look batter by losing some weight.

Will losing 20lb affect my deep plane facelift results?

Answers (8)

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