Can I Get A Facelift After Loosing A Lot Of Weight Even Though I Am Young?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I’m in the beginning stages of planning a facelift. I’m a 32 year old male who lost 100 lbs when I was 17. I went from 285 to 175 – and with that weight loss, came some loose skin around my body. My face is my biggest concern as it’s hard to cover up and has not shown any signs of tightening up. 

I know 32 is young for a facelift but I’m open to other suggestions/options. My biggest concerns are my skin sagging around my cheek and mouth area, jaw line and neck area are not defined very well, some brow area is sagging a bit, and my whole face drops when face down (there’s an awful photo I included). My face is also not symmetric – not sure if that is solvable. I’ve attached some photos for reference. 

Looking forward to hearing more

A:Thanks you for your inquiry, sending your pictures and congratulations on the weight loss. With that amount of weight loss there is going to be some expected loose skin in the face. At your young age the skin has a great ability to shrink but at a 100lb weight loss even young skin can not shrink down completely. Given that the vast majority of your concerns are around the neck, jawline and lower facial area, a lower facelift would be the appropriate treatment for it. The question is not whether you can have a lower facelift but whether the scar locations can be adequately hidden (which is always challenging in a male patient) and still get enough of a result to justify the effort. While most of the time I can just look at a picture of a patient and know the answer to these questions, yours is a unique challenge in that regard. This is the one time that I think seeing you in person will help me evaluate whether this is a good procedure for you and will help you best understand the incisional/scar locations for a lower facelift surgery.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana