Cosmetic surgery study raises eyebrows

Some facial surgeries make you look younger and others make you look more attractive

October 17, 2013

Operations that change the size and shape of your nose, chin, cheeks and jawline can increase your attractiveness, according to Southwest Florida board certified cosmetic surgeon, Dr. Robert Brueck MD F.A.C.S.

A recent study of plastic surgery patients and their results raised a lot of eyebrows due to some unexpected results. Pre-op and post-op photos of patients (37 women and 12 men) who had facial rejuvenation surgeries such as facelifts, brow lifts and eyelid cosmetic surgery were evaluated by independent reviewers. The study found that plastic surgery made people look about three years younger but did not have a significant effect on how "attractive" they appeared to be.

Michael Yaremchuk, M.D., Chief of Craniofacial Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital, discussed the study results with colleagues from the American Society for Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) and put the study in context to explain the results. They turn out to less surprising when the facts are considered:

• The study, published in JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery, included only one plastic surgeon's surgeries, which may not reflect plastic surgery results in general.
• It doesn't include any pictures of the surgical results.
• Most patients in the study had eyelid surgery (upper and lower lid blepharoplasty and browlifts), which can make eyes look round and hollow from the removal of too much fat and skin, which can appear to be be aging. In addition, young women actually have low brows, which may elevate with age. So it's no surprise that this surgery did not make people look younger.

Even more significant, according to the Yaremchuk, brow lifts, eye lifts and face lifts are designed to bring ones appearance to where it was years before. If ones face was considered attractive before the "lift," it will, at best, return the face to that appearance. If the face was considered unattractive before, it will return to a younger version of that "unattractive" face.

Attractiveness for a face is a result of the balance of facial features (nose, chin, cheeks and jawline). Cosmetic surgeries that change the size and shape of these features can make ones face more attractive. The primary determinant of facial appearance is the facial skeleton. Procedures with the most significant impact on facial appearance are those that manipulate the skeleton: rhinoplasty (alters the nasal bones) and cheek bone, chin and jaw implants.

So, it makes perfect sense that face lifts, brow lifts and eyelid surgeries can help you appear younger, but you should not expect them to change your level of attractiveness. If you're happy with your underlying facial structure and want to look younger, a face lift can achieve that goal. It's true, however, that "younger" is often perceived as more "attractive".