People are embracing plastic surgery at a much younger age – but at what cost?
My final entry into the 2025 aesthetic trends that I predict will continue to rise this year centers around something that’s been troubling me for a while now, and that’s the number of very young people getting plastic surgery younger, more extensively, and more invasively.
Younger, riskier, and more extreme. Why are we seeing an increase in cosmetic surgery performed on 20s and 30 year olds? Image by Freepik.
Why are so many young people rushing to get plastic surgery in their 30s and sometimes even 20s? The reasons it turns out are more complex and nuanced than you might think. Let’s take a look!
Facelifts Under 30: The Ozempic and Filler After Party
As the headline suggests, a trend we’ve been seeing ebbing upwards for a few years now are facelifts being performed on the under 40 crowd. Now, there are many reasons people seek out a facelift, and generalizations for such a complex decision can be problematic. However, more and more people are citing non-invasive antiaging treatments (fillers and energy devices) as the reason why they think they need one.
We now know that ‘liquid facelifts’ don’t really work as promised. Though fillers can be a wonderful tool for restoring volume and subtly adjusting how light strikes the face, they can’t lift the tissues, and they never really did. Now that it’s become trendy to dissolve fillers, many men and women are noticing that afterwards, their faces appear more aged than they did before. Some of that is due to the natural aging process, but there is an argument to be had that fillers are partly to blame.
As we age, fillers, which do not have the same consistency as bone or a true surgical implant, can take on a puffy, doughy appearance (we’ve all seen the celebrity images). And though as a rule fillers aren’t exactly mobile, when too much is injected in an attempt to lift the cheeks or add a jawline that’s not there by nature… buyer beware.
In fact, any stretching of the skin can lead to more prominent signs of aging such as jowls. We’re seeing a similar trend with Ozempic and other GLP-1 agonists, where people who have been prescribed the drug to lose weight or control their diabetes find that they’re also noticing signs of aging that weren’t there before. Sometimes the extra skin resolves naturally, other times the only option is to address it surgically.
But that’s the crux of what we’re dealing with – extra skin. When we inject too much filler, the body compensates by producing more skin, just like it does when our weight shifts. When the filler dissolves naturally (or weight is lost rapidly), loose skin can be left behind.
Regularly getting filler to stave off aging? While filler can do some amazing things, trying to ‘lift’ the face by inflating it with fillers will cause problems down the road. Image by Freepik.
Paradoxically, on top of seeing women in their 30s seeking facelifts to repair stretched skin, we’re also seeing women in the 20s and early 30s eschewing filler entirely and going straight to a facelift. On the surface it almost makes sense, but it’s not a good idea. There are serious risks that go along with a big surgery like a facelift, ones that I don’t think are appropriate at a young age. And (ironically much like fillers) we don’t yet know the long-term consequences of having a facelift so young. We could be recreating the filler-inflation- predicament all over again.
Verdict: Walk, Don’t Run, for the Hyaluronidase?
Before you run to get your filler dissolved, remember that FDA approved injectables, when used properly, won’t lead to these kinds of aesthetic fallout. Used properly and conservatively is the crux. Women and men both get tasteful and beautiful work done with fillers every day that doesn’t result in feeling you need a facelift.
Filler was never meant to alter features or drastically change the face. It was meant for subtle enhancements and to restore what was lost. The other guideline is that fillers can’t be treated as an alternative to a facelift – or any other surgery. Keep in mind too that hyaluronic acid fillers will dissolve meaning time can be your friend.
While the trend of younger facelifts is likely here to stay, there are a handful of reality checks to keep in mind if you or someone you know are considering this procedure:
- Some plastic surgery comes with risks of general anesthesia
- You don’t need big surgeries to make an impact – a small procedure, like my Elelyft lip lift, can be transformative without the big surgical risks.
- The changes from a facelift are irreversible
- Scar tissue from previous high energy treatments and injectables can make facelifts a trickier procedure.
- Trends come and go, your face shouldn’t be treated like an accessory
- We don’t know the long-term implications of having large cosmetic surgeries at a younger age.
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No one needs cosmetic surgery.
While you’re here, one of the things that can make a huge impact on your appearance without the risk or cost of surgery is gentle, effective, streamlined skincare. Check out my Feel Confident Skincare line. Expertly formulated by a plastic surgeon.
