How important is it to be at a weight prior to a facelift? Lost 20 lbs. Should I work on the additional 30 lbs first? (Photo)

you appear to be an excellent candidate for a facelift.  Many patients are concerned that if they have a facelift and lose more weight, they will need the facelift redone.  I have never seen that become an issue.  There would be no problem having a facelift done at this point.

Yes, I would urge you to be very close to your goal weight before undergoing a facelift. If you are actively continuing to lose weight, you'll want to reach a point of equilibrium before pursuing surgery. I say "equilibrium" because you want to be at a weight you can easily maintain. The main reason: It's difficult to predict how the face responds to weight loss or gain. For some patients, the face remains essentially unchanged; for others, there are significant volume fluctuations in the face. This can make the results less predictable. Once you are at a comfortable weight that you can maintain, your surgeon will be able to give you a better idea of your expected outcome. Best of luck to you.

I feel patients need to be at a comfortable weight that they can realistically maintain prior to surgery.  An additional 30 lbs of weight loss could be fine if that is what your goal  is.  At the time most patients are contemplating a face lift, most have already noticed atrophy or loss of facial fat volume.  A 30 lb weight loss will clearly affect these volume changes in the face associated with aging, and this may affect what your surgeon chooses to do with regard to volume restoration (i.e.: autologous fat transfer).  I don't ever recommend crash dieting before surgery.  I would again recommend that you be near your comfortably maintainable goal weight +/- 10 lbs.  Best of luck.

When someone is looking to lose massive amounts of weight, I typically recommend they do this prior to surgery. However for patients who have a 20-30 pound weight loss it really does not make much of a difference for various reasons. I've explained this in the following video and hope you find this helpful.

Hello.  Thank you for your question.  Congratulations on your weight loss!  I always recommend to my patients that they try to get as close as possible to their goal weight prior to facelift to allow us to get the best result.  However, I never discourage continued efforts at necessary weight loss, even after a facelift.  If someone loses 10 - 15 lbs after a facelift, it probably won't make that much difference in the result.  However, if someone loses 20 - 30 lbs, or more, after a facelift, then they are likely to get thinning of the face and neck which may result in some skin laxity along the neck and jawline.  If this happens, it may require an additional "tuck-up" procedure to tighten up the loose skin.  So, do your best to lose the weight first, and you will likely get a better, longer lasting result.  I wish you the best in your weight loss efforts and achieving your aesthetic goals.