Earlier this month, 27-year-old Kylie Jenner answered the plea of a TikToker and shared the exact details of her breast augmentation, down to the plastic surgeon. When Beverly Hills board-certified plastic surgeon Garth Fisher took to his Instagram to express his gratitude and further confirm it was indeed him who did the job, there was another familiar face in the comments: Jenner’s mother, Kris.
“Garth you are such a superstar class act!!” Kris gushed. “You did my first facelift in 2011…14 years ago!!!” I’m not a Kardashian family historian, so the inclusion of first caught me off guard. It was recently confirmed that Kris had a facelift at 69 years old—look at those cheeks!—but a quick search revealed that, yes, she also had a facelift with Dr. Fisher that was filmed for Keeping Up With the Kardashians 14 years ago, when she was 55.
In the weeks since Kris chose cosmetic-surgery transparency à la Marc Jacobs, facelift-related chatter has reached a fever pitch. And it’s not just lip service: Every single doctor I spoke to for this story cited a 50% spike in interest in the surgery.
Beverly Hills facial plastic surgeon Babak Azizzadeh, MD, declared that the surgery is “one of the most essential tools for facial rejuvenation” and more powerful than any other treatment—lasers, injectables, microneedling, radiofrequency, and more—in the antiaging world. “A facelift, in essence, involves the repositioning of soft tissue and modification of deeper fat compartments and glands,” he says. In more direct terms: The skin of the face is lifted up, the face and muscles underneath repositioned and sculpted into a desired effect, and then the skin is tightened and cut to sit taut across the face.
“For most people, a facelift is a once-in-a-lifetime procedure,” says double board-certified plastic surgeon David Shafer, MD. “But as people are now living longer and staying socially active for longer, they are also returning for tweaks or additional surgery.” It’s just one of the many unexpected spin-offs of the longevity movement.
“Just as people may require a second hip replacement or knee revision, it is becoming more common for individuals to undergo more than one facelift over the course of their lives,” adds Lara Devgan, MD. A successful facelift should last between 10 and 15 years—but if you get your first one at age 45, that means by the time you reach age 60, you may be thinking it’s time for another one. Kris shared that her last facelift was 14 years ago, so she was right on schedule for a tune-up. Dr. Devgan adds that “a second procedure is not an indication that the first failed—rather it reflects a long and full life lived in harmony with evolving goals and anatomy.”
It should also be noted that a second (or even third) facelift requires a bit more finessing than the first time. “While most well-placed scars from the first procedure heal discreetly, the tissue underneath is no longer untouched territory,” says Dr. Devgan. “Because the structural foundation has already been lifted, the focus shifts to maintaining facial balance and subtly adjusting areas of new laxity or volume loss. With advancements in technique, surgeons can safely navigate prior surgical planes and create exceptionally natural results. In this way, sequential facial surgery becomes less about chasing youth and more about preserving identity and structure across time.” Dr. Azizzadeh adds, “As more individuals opt for facelifts at a younger age, I anticipate that secondary facelifts will become increasingly common in the future.”
But as with all moments of looking up to—or feeling inspired by—celebrities, we need to keep a few things in mind. “Patients need to realize that celebrities have unlimited resources, professional makeup artists, professional hairstylists, and many noninvasive treatments such as laser, radio frequency, and injections as well,” Dr. Shafer says. “There’s also a team of digital editors. So remember, more goes into appearance than just that facelift.”
