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Plastic Surgery Benefits: More Than Just Skin Deep

A lot of people get facial plastic surgery because they say they want to look younger and feel better about themselves. The outside effects are usually pretty apparent, but can anyone tell whether the surgery made a difference on the inside? According to a new study, yes.

Researchers at Georgetown University asked people to rate before-and-after photos of women who had cosmetic facial procedures such as facelift, neck lift, eyelid, and brow lift surgeries. The “after” photos were rated significantly higher not just in categories like attractiveness, but also in social skills, likeability, and femininity.

Close-up female face with a big wrinkles on her forehead - isolated on white

According to the study, published in JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery, its goal was “to introduce the concept of facial profiling to the surgical literature and to evaluate and quantify the changes in personality perception that occur with facial rejuvenation surgery.” The research seems to be the first of its kind.

A TIME magazine article delved into the reasons behind why the women were perceived differently, suggesting it has to do with the instincts we’ve honed over many millennia to make snap judgments about whether someone is reliable. “Furrowed brow? You might be interpreted as mean or anti-social. Heavy, hooded eyes? Clearly untrustworthy,” the article said. “While it seems ridiculous now, at one time in our evolutionary history, being able to make such determinations might have been life-saving: Who’s out to do us harm?”

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It’s a concept that both makes sense and reinforces the value of facial plastic surgery to would-be patients, who often say that they feel their drooping brows or downturned lips make them look unhappy or even angry when they feel just fine inside.

Qualified plastic surgeons, for their part, give a lot of thought to expressions and how other people perceive a patient’s face. For instance, according to the website of South Bay Plastic Surgeons in Torrance, CA, the goal of facial plastic surgery is to “enhance the features of your face with minimal scarring and results that are natural looking but noticeable.”

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Even with injections of BOTOX® Cosmetic, which literally prevent facial muscles from contracting and forming the wrinkles that linger after we make expressions (think frown lines), the goal is never to limit the expressions themselves. “If the injector is qualified and has expertise in facial anatomy, the results achieve the cosmetic goals you want without limiting facial expressions,” the practice says.

Plastic surgeons generally aim for a neutral result: one that removes the negative expressions (tiredness, anger, sadness) others might perceive in a resting face, but doesn’t make the person look unnaturally surprised, alert, joyful, or anything else.

Also at play in the findings is the confidence factor. Countless studies have documented that plastic surgery makes people feel happier with their appearance, with many patients reporting that they hold their heads a little higher after a procedure. Many are spurred to update their fashion choices or lose weight to continue improving themselves.

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Perhaps the participants in the study picked up on that confidence in the “after” photos of the facial plastic surgery patients.

It’s an interesting consideration both for those thinking about getting plastic surgery and for the doctors who perform it: People will see a change, and it won’t be just skin-deep.

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