The first known facelift was performed at Berlin’s Charite Hospital over 120 years ago. In 1901, an intrepid German doctor called Eugene von Holländer was approached by a Polish aristocrat looking for smoother skin. With her hands clasped to the sides of her face, the well-to-do woman is said to have demonstrated her request by lifting the corners of her mouth and cheeks. But Holländer was initially reluctant to operate, given that no such operation existed. Ultimately, as he recorded in his 1912 medical paper, he fell victim to “the art of feminine persuasion” and readied his scalpel. While there is little public information about patient zero, including her name, Holländer’s notes of her “aging wrinkles” and “drooping cheeks” suggest she was around the age of a prototypical candidate.
Over a century later, the surgery is breaking new ground once again. This time, with those under 40. It’s a controversial procedure, but Dr. Zelken is largely in support of the newfound interest from this burgeoning demographic, whose operations have produced some of his “favorite” results.
“It’s almost like you are doing a filter for social media in real life by doing these procedures,” said Dr. Zelken, who was hesitant to share the cost of his work, but pointed to Southern California’s ballpark range of $30,000 to $100,000 per facelift. While he acknowledged that a 20-something year old looking for a facelift would be a “yellow flag,” he wouldn’t be deterred solely on that. “It’s hard to put an age minimum on this procedure,” Dr. Zelken reasoned. Even where there are no drooping cheeks or aging wrinkles, “you can achieve really attractive change,” he said.
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