To Lift or Not to Lift? The Deep Plane Facelift

To Lift or Not to Lift? Why I Got Snatched by a Deep Plane Facelift

If your only mental image of a facelift comes from the 1985 movie Brazil—where Katherine Helmond’s face is aggressively stretched like a piece of questionable leftover chicken wrapped tightly in cellophane and held together by metal clamps—congratulations, you share my exact brand of trauma. When that movie came out, I was a crisp, wrinkle-free 18-year-old. The idea of ever needing a facelift was nowhere on my radar. Oh, the sweet, naive ignorance of youth. I had absolutely no idea what gravity had planned for me.

The Great Descent

A lot can change in 40 years. Sometime around age 52, I noticed my neck and jowls had decided to start sliding down toward my collarbones. I did my best with skincare, and corrective facial massage, micro-needling, and the occasional Botox. But as my formerly bouncy cheeks slid south, I remembered of my younger self who so ignorantly thought “facelifts are for women who don’t take care of themselves,” or who are “ridiculously vain.” I began to understand that despite my heroic attempts to maintain my youthful facial structure, that cruel bitch called Menopause had a different plan. It happens to us all sooner or later. Our mom shows up in the mirror.

Lucky for my impending existential crisis, modern science stepped in. The old-school, wind-tunnel type of facelift is officially out, and natural-looking results are in. The Deep Plane Facelift had arrived and was making its presence very known on social media. I’m not going to lie, watching the before and after photos of women aging in reverse, influenced me.

I am an esthetician and cosmetic formulator, and I know my way around skin. So I knew: no amount of quality skincare, lymphatic drainage, or buccal massage was going to fix my neck, un-puff my eye bags, or lift a droopy brow. My issue wasn't skin quality; it was an anatomical degradation that was slow to arrive, but once it did I wanted it gone. The underlying structure and muscles in my face had officially packed up and moved south, and I was fully aware that only a surgeon's scalpel was going to bring them back home.

So, at 58 years old, I officially booked my surgery. I was physically and emotionally (or so I thought) ready to fix my profile photo situation because, frankly, I was tired of hiding a turkey waddle that didn't ask for my permission to exist. I did my homework and found a young, affordable (in comparison to others in my area) plastic surgeon who specialized in "deep plane" facelifts to snatch my jawline back to pre-45 times.

The Judgement: Defending the New Face

Let’s be honest: choosing to rearrange your face is a massive decision. Everyone should do their homework on the procedure, the surgeon, and whether they can actually handle looking like a sci-fi villain during recovery. That part is a trip.

In the days leading up to the surgery, some of my friends and clients were excited and envious, anxiously awaiting my new look and a front row seat to the whole bruisy process. But I definitely had some vocal opposition from a few concerned and judgemental friends. Why can’t you just “age gracefully?” And of course the reassuring “you are beautiful the way you are.” Sigh.

As a beauty professional, I understand the difference between a woman who has been an overfilled “pillow face” and cartoonish lips and one who has had a well-done surgical repositioning of the tissue. Most people are not so aware of the difference between what goes down at a med spa and what is possible with a deep plane facelift.

Everyone has a belief system and most women from the natural camp believe all women should age naturally, and any female who chooses to alter their face will inevitably look like one of the Housewives. They find it easy to judge and the critics believe there is a certain “type” of woman who gets a facelift. They are either betraying their womanhood, have age dysmorphia, or are simply unable to live without the adoring male gaze. Seriously.

This is the type of judgement that comes down on you when you dare to voice your plan to go under the knife.

The 7-Month Update: Snatched (But Still Healing)

I am now about seven months post-op from a deep plane facelift, neck lift, brow lift, lower blepharoplasty (goodbye, permanent eye bags), and some strategic fat grafting. Yes, I bought the whole package.

And guess what? I am still healing. At this point, I am looking like myself and the surgery has mostly “settled” or looks like it is going to. Visibly I am healed and back to normal.

Right now, I am dealing with:

The Invisible Swelling: It’s a tiny bit swollen in specific areas. No one else can see it, but I can and it is frustrating.
The Numb Zone: I have some mild numbness around incisions and on the top of my head from the brow lift. It's totally normal, expected, and a hilarious reminder that my nerves are currently trying to remember how to talk to each other.

But honestly, I am very happy with the results. My skin looks better than it did 20 years ago, my jawline is officially "snatched," and my eyes no longer look like I’ve been awake since 2004. I look visibly refreshed, lifted, and—best of all—I still look like myself. Just a much less exhausted version.

So let me explain what a deep plane facelift actually is and why I bought one.

First Things First: Why Faces Age (and it is Not All About the Skin)

If aging were only about wrinkles, we’d all be fine with a good quality moisturizer and a solid serum. Unfortunately, your face is more ambitious than that.

As you age:

Your facial bones slowly shrink (rude, but true)
Fat pads deflate and slide south
Ligaments loosen
Muscles descend
Skin gets thinner and less elastic
Gravity never takes a day off

This means your face doesn’t just wrinkle—it collapses. Cheeks flatten, nasolabial folds deepen, jowls appear, and your jawline quietly resigns. Pulling the skin tighter does exactly nothing to fix the root cause. Which brings us to the deep plane facelift.

So… What Is a Deep Plane Facelift?

A deep plane facelift is a surgical facelift technique that lifts and repositions the deeper structures of the face—not just the skin. Specifically, it works beneath the SMAS layer (Superficial Musculoaponeurotic System), along with the facial fat pads and connective tissue that hold your face together.

Instead of stretching only your skin tightly backward (aka Katherine Helmond in Brazil), the deep plane facelift lifts the face as a unit, restoring structure, volume, and contour. The skin is basically along for the ride—not the main event.

Translation: it fixes why your face is sagging, not just where it’s sagging.

A deep plane facelift is structural. It works because it respects facial anatomy instead of fighting it. It doesn’t erase aging; it repositions what time and gravity displaced.

The SMAS: The Layer Anti-Aging Marketing Pretends Doesn’t Exist

The SMAS is a fibrous layer that connects facial muscles to the skin. When you smile, frown, or raise an eyebrow, this layer is doing the work. As you age, the SMAS loosens and drops, dragging everything with it. A deep plane facelift goes under the SMAS, releases tight retaining ligaments, and lifts the entire structure upward—where it used to live before gravity got control.

This is why deep plane facelifts improve:

Sagging cheeks
Deep nasolabial folds
Jowls
Jawline softening
Lower face heaviness
Neck contour

Not because the skin is tighter—but because the architecture under the skin is corrected.

Why “Pulling Skin Tight” Is a Bad Idea

Early facelifts were basically aggressive skin ironing. Surgeons pulled skin tight, cut off the excess, and called it a day. The result?

Tight, shiny skin
Distorted hairlines
Ears pulled forward (hello, pixie ear)
A permanent look of being mildly startled
Results that aged poorly and didn’t last

Skin stretches. Always. If skin tension is doing the heavy lifting, gravity will win again—and quickly.

Deep plane facelifts avoid this mess by putting the tension where it belongs: in the deeper structural layers that are meant to hold weight. The results are more natural and last longer.

How a Deep Plane Facelift Is Done

Here’s the non-gory simplified overview:

Incisions are placed around the hairline and ears (similar to other facelifts). There is also an incision under the chin to address the neck contour.
The surgeon carefully dissects beneath the SMAS layer.
Key retaining ligaments are released, allowing natural movement.
The face—skin, fat, and muscle together—is lifted upward.
Skin is redraped gently, not yanked.
Excess skin is trimmed conservatively, and everything is closed.

The goal is repositioning, not tightening. Think “restoration,” not “stretch wrap.”

What a Deep Plane Facelift Can Actually Fix

Let’s be realistic. A deep plane facelift is excellent for:

Sagging cheeks
Deep nasolabial folds
Jowls
Snatching the jawline
Lower face heaviness
Overall facial descent
Neck Contour – neck bands and loose skin

It often gets paired with:

A neck lift (this is typically part of the deep plane technique, not a separate surgical area)
Eyelid surgery
Fat grafting
Brow lift

When done well, it makes people look refreshed—not “done.”

What It Absolutely Does Not Do

Despite what Instagram surgeons might imply, a deep plane facelift does not:

Stop aging
Improve skin texture or sun damage
Replace bone loss
Fix pigmentation
Make you look 25
Solve existential dread

Your pores, sunspots, and fine lines still exist. Skin quality is a separate issue—and still requires skincare, lasers, or other treatments as needed.

Don’t Slack on Your Skincare!

Skin quality plays a huge role in how good facial surgery looks—because no matter how perfectly the structure is repositioned, the skin is still the outermost billboard. Thick, healthy, well-hydrated skin drapes smoothly over the newly lifted foundation, while thin, sun-damaged, inflamed skin tends to show every irregularity, tension point, and scar. Collagen density, elasticity, and barrier function determine how well skin heals, how scars mature, and how natural the final result appears. Surgery can move tissue, but it can’t fix years of UV damage, dehydration, or neglect—so the better the skin going in, the better the outcome coming out.

Who Is (and Isn’t) a Good Candidate

Good candidates generally:

Have moderate to advanced facial sagging
Want natural results
Are healthy enough for surgery
Understand aging doesn’t end post-op

Not-so-great candidates:

People with minimal sagging
Those seeking “preventative facelifts”
Anyone expecting surgery to fix skin quality
Anyone chasing perfection instead of improvement

Age is less important than anatomy. A well-aged 60-year-old may benefit more than a 45-year-old with good structure.

In my opinion, having gone through the process, I would advise waiting until the sagging gets to the point that you really can’t stand it. The surgery is intense and the recovery is long, and you probably only want to have a facelift once in your lifetime. Your lifestyle and skincare choices make a huge difference in prolonging your face from melting down in the first place and preserving your facelift results if you choose to have one.

About the Recovery: Not Instant, Not Forever

This is surgery. Not a facial. Expect delayed healing. You will look a little freakish for a while. Do not expect to be like that person online who healed in 2 weeks with no pain. The pain was minimal for me, but I experienced very uncomfortable swelling in my face, neck and top of my head for about a week. After that it was bearable.

Swelling and bruising: week 1 the swelling is extreme and the bruising starts to show. I found it hard to sleep because of the swelling. 2–3 weeks still very swollen and very bruised. Bruising fades faster than swelling. Low grade swelling can hang on for months in certain areas. I still have swelling at 7 months post-op and I am healing well and doing a lot of lymphatic drainage. It is visible to me but not others.
Tightness: Your face will feel tight! But it is not because the skin is stretched it is mainly because of the swelling in all the layers of tissue that have been traumatized. This lessens as you heal. It doesn’t hurt, it feels more like restricted movement.
Socially presentable: 4 weeks, maybe sooner, but probably not unless you cover bruising with makeup. It was 6 weeks before I felt like I wanted to be social with strangers, but at 2 weeks I was running errands and people stared at my bruisy face. But I really didn’t care. Much of this depends on your surgery, and your healing. It is very individual.
Numbness: There may be areas of numbness on the face that will gradually fade. Numbness may hang on from 6 months to 1 year out, maybe more, depending on your surgery and healing. Again – this is very individual. Everyone heals differently.
Final results: 4–6 months you should be physically and visibly healed, and the final look will have mostly “settled in.” This means that you will pretty much look how you are going to look. Little things may still morph and change and improve, but overall, you are healed.

Do You Need a Deep Plane Facelift? (My Friends Said I Didn’t, But I Got One Anyway.)

That depends on you and only you. Beauty standards constantly bombard our brains. And aging is a quite frankly, a mind-f&*k.

Honestly, nobody needs a deep plane facelift for survival or to ultimately be happy (because a facelift is not a quick fix for unhappiness.) But you may want one. And it may make you feel better and that is okay too. Self-acceptance, self-confidence, or to feel like what you are seeing in the mirror matches how you feel in your mind, are all valid reasons for getting a deep plane facelift.

If a facelift will make you look and feel better, the only judge that matters is you.

*Photo shown is progress at about 3 months post op. For more updates, see our Code of Harmony Instagram page.