A recent study shows that complication rates replated to plastic surgery, like Jacksonville, FL, surgeon Dr. A.H. Nezami's facelifts and neck lifts, are about as low for older patients as they are for younger ones.
The American Society of Plastic Surgeons holds a scientific meeting each year, and its most recent get-together, held in October 2014, included the presentation of a study revealing that plastic surgery is as safe for elderly patients as it is for younger ones. That means men and women 65 and older looking for plastic surgery, as offered by Jacksonville, FL, plastic surgeon Dr. A.H. Nezami, can enjoy the fact that overall complication rates in their demographic are statistically insignificant when compared to complication rates in the demographic made up of patients younger than 65.
Those overall complication rates were also incredibly minimal. Citing 2008 to 2013 figures from a database known as CosmetAssure, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons reported that overall plastic surgery postoperative complications in the 65-and-older population sat at 1.94 percent, while younger patients experienced a 1.84 percent complication rate. That is so close as to not be a difference at all.
The mean age in the senior demographic was 69.1 years. The younger demographic had a mean age of 39.2 years.
Going even further ahead in years, the study also found a statistically insignificant post-plastic surgery complication rate—2.2 percent—in patients who were 80 years old or older. That means patients can consider a plastic surgery procedure with confidence, no matter what their age.
“With increasing numbers of elderly patients seeking aesthetic surgery there is a need to better understand the complications of cosmetic procedures unique to this population,” said the study’s presenter. “Our study demonstrated that patients over 65 years old can safely undergo cosmetic procedures with a complications rate similar to younger patients when surgery is performed by board certified plastic surgeon."
The only specific procedure that carried a higher percentage of complications for older patients was the abdominoplasty, more commonly known as a tummy tuck. Even then, it was only a 1.5 percent difference.
The study also showed that older patients opt for facial procedures at a significantly higher rate than their younger counterparts. While 12 percent of the younger patients in the study chose facial surgery, an overwhelming 62.9 percent of the 65-and-older patients was making the choice to correct some aspect of the face.
Facial plastic surgery includes face and neck lifts to tighten loose skin on the lower portion of the face, eyelid surgery (also known as blepharoplasty) to eliminate puffy and drooping eyelids, rhinoplasty (better known as nose surgery) to change the shape or size of the nose for aesthetic or even medical reasons, brow and forehead lifts to tighten away forehead lines and raise drooping brows, and even otoplasty (also referred to as ear sculpting). In fact, speaking of age and plastic surgery, of all of these procedures, otoplasty can be performed on patients as young as 5 years old—on the very opposite end of the plastic surgery age demographic spectrum!
The American Society of Plastic Surgeons, of which Dr. Nezami is a member, recommends the best ways to minimize potential complications for any plastic surgery procedure at any age, including choosing a board-certified surgeon and discussing how often that surgeon has performed the procedure you are seeking.
