Hello. I’m Dr. Shin Dong-woo, Chief Surgeon at Planet Plastic Surgery Clinic.
As a board-certified plastic surgeon with 17 years of experience, I have performed thousands of lifting procedures throughout my career.
As winter approaches, many patients considering facelift surgery have been reaching out with questions about its effectiveness and longevity.
To get straight to the point: based on clinical data from our practice at Planet, we can say that results typically last approximately 10 years.
It’s also worth noting that even after this period, patients tend to maintain a noticeably smoother appearance compared to others in their age group.
However, achieving this outcome is not something every clinic can guarantee. It requires a thoroughly optimized surgical technique as a prerequisite.
In practice, we see a considerable number of cases where premature sagging or complications arise due to substandard procedures — which is why choosing the right clinic requires very careful consideration.
Today, I’d like to share two key factors that allow surgical results to be maintained over the long term.
If you keep these two points in mind, you can realistically expect satisfying results lasting 10 years or more, so I encourage you to read through to the end.
① The Extent of Dissection Is Everything.
If you’ve been researching facelift surgery, you’re likely already familiar with the term “SMAS layer dissection.”
This is arguably the single most critical element of the procedure — and it cannot be emphasized enough.
To ensure stable, long-lasting results, precise and deep-layer dissection is absolutely essential.
While most clinics do emphasize this point, the unfortunate reality is that in actual clinical practice, it is frequently not carried out properly, and inadequate dissection is far more common than it should be.
In fact, when I perform revision surgeries, I regularly encounter cases where superficial dissection was performed, and thread lifts were then haphazardly used in an attempt to compensate for the resulting sagging.
Such inappropriate practices should, of course, be eradicated — but deep-layer dissection demands an exceptionally high level of expertise and extensive clinical experience, which likely explains why these cases continue to occur.
After all, if a surgeon were to honestly disclose the limitations of their dissection technique, patients would simply go elsewhere.
For this reason, we always recommend choosing a clinic that is transparent about the scope of dissection during the consultation process.
② Post-Operative Care Must Be Examined Just as Carefully.
Many patients assume that, like other cosmetic procedures, a facelift guarantees 10 years of results the moment surgery is complete.
However, because a facelift is an extensive procedure involving the entire face, even when surgery is performed with great precision, outcomes can vary considerably depending on each individual’s recovery process.
In particular, patients who experience prolonged swelling, bruising, or lymphatic circulation issues following surgery often show signs of sagging 2 to 3 years earlier than the typical timeline.
This is why the three months of intensive care following a facelift are the decisive factor in determining long-term outcomes.
Immediately after surgery, tissues remain in an unstable state, meaning that even minor stimulation can cause serious damage to the dissected and sutured areas.
During this sensitive period, systematic management by qualified medical professionals — from at least two weeks up to three months post-operation — is essential.
But what does the reality look like?
At the majority of clinics, care is largely limited to basic swelling laser treatments or injections, with anything beyond that left entirely to the patient themselves.
While this may be framed as a matter of operational efficiency, from a clinical standpoint, it is a system that serves the clinic’s interests rather than the patient’s recovery.
It amounts to little more than a mechanism for maximizing the volume of surgical cases.
For this reason, at Planet, we deliberately limit ourselves to one facelift procedure per day, and we place great emphasis on a systematic program that covers everything from the procedure itself through to aftercare.
We have brought on a Standing Director of the ISO International Medical Aesthetics Safety Society specifically to oversee post-operative care, and we provide a customized aesthetic aftercare service for each patient.
This includes personalized skincare tailored to each patient’s post-surgical condition, bruising and swelling management, and a comprehensive process designed to shorten recovery time.
If you have any further questions or would like a personal consultation, please feel free to contact us at the number below or leave a comment on our 1:1 inquiry board.