Face Lifts Are Better Done Sooner Than Later

“The earlier the face lift, the better.”

Yes, within reason. “The later you wait, the more there is to do and the more of a dramatic change there is,” says Dr. Bruce Achauer, an Orange plastic surgeon and professor of surgery at UC Irvine College of Medicine. “Face lifts in the 40s are fairly common, but they are most common in the 50s,” he says. “Even in the 70s, a face lift is not unusual now. Face lifts in the 30s are unusual--in the 30s, most people think more about eyelid surgery or forehead lifts.”

Before thinking about a face lift, many patients should probably consider a neck lift first, says Dr. Robert Kotler, a Beverly Hills facial plastic surgeon. “The neck ages before the face,” he says. “You start to develop sagging of the neck muscles or a double chin, then jowling.”

Prime times for face lifts, Kotler finds, are often the late 40s or early 50s for women and late 50s for men.

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“With age, noses and ears can get larger.”

Yes. Like many other body parts, noses and ears can stretch with age, says Dr. John L. Frodel Jr., director of facial plastic and reconstructive surgery at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. “The whole ear doesn’t get bigger, just the ear lobe. It stretches out and drops.” People with big ear lobes to begin with are the most prone.

“The same thing with the nose,” Frodel says. Large noses, he says, have a tendency to lengthen with age as the skin stretches and underlying structures (such as cartilage) start to separate.

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“Using creams to remove unwanted hair keeps the skin smoother longer than shaving it off.”

That’s true, says Dr. Bernard Raskin, a Valencia dermatologist and UCLA assistant clinical professor of dermatology. Hair that has been removed with cream “will stay away longer, usually one to two weeks.” Chemical depilatories “dissolve the hair above the skin and somewhat below the skin in the follicle.”

But there’s a caveat to creams: “Some are irritating if used on the face,” Raskin says. When using a new cream, put a bit on the inner arm. If that isn’t irritating, try a small bit on the face before proceeding with a regular application.

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“An elevated blood pressure reading during a routine physical exam is cause for concern.”

Possibly, but not necessarily, says Dr. Norman Kaplan, head of the hypertension division of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas. “Eighty percent of the measurements taken in the doctor’s office are higher than if they were recorded before or after the visit. Twenty percent of (these) people have ‘white coat hypertension’--their pressures are only higher in the doctor’s office. The other 60% are also hypertensive outside (and may need treatment).”

Unless pressures are dangerously high in the office, Kaplan asks patients to keep track by using inexpensive home monitors before deciding if treatment is warranted.

Doheny cannot answer mail personally but will attempt to respond in this column to questions of general interest. Please do not telephone. Write to Mythbusters, Life & Style, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, Calif. 90053.