Facial Plastic Surgery Won’t Make You More Beautiful [Study]

Facial plastic surgery doesn’t make you more beautiful, according to a new study involving 50 strangers and 49 plastic surgery patients.

Published online Thursday in JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery, the study found that the procedure may help patients look three years younger, but it doesn’t necessarily make them more attractive.

Eyelid surgery and facelifts are the third and fifth most popular plastic surgery procedures, reports CBS News. But researchers discovered they may not do what patients hope they will.

Researchers asked the strangers to guess the age of 49 patients before and after they underwent their plastic surgery procedures. The strangers were also asked to rate the patient’s attractiveness on a scale of one to 10.

Dr. Joshua Zimm, an attending surgeon and lead author of the study, explained that he often tells his patients they will “look fresher, more energetic and less tired,” And the new study does agree.

However, Zimm added that he “cannot say that they will look more attractive.” Patients involved in the study had a facelift, neck lift, upper or lower eyelid lift, and/or brow lift. Their ages ranged from 42 to 73 years olf and the photos were taken before surgery and after a six-month follow-up period.

The New York Daily News notes that previous research indicated that a facelift and necklift could make a person look nine years younger. But the difference is that the new study also included less extensive procedures.

Most patients in the study were given an attractiveness score between four and six. That score didn’t change after the procedures were one. Zimm added that he doesn’t want people to think, “Oh, if I get a face-life, I’ll only look three years younger.” That isn’t necessarily true.

However, what appears to be true is that plastic surgery, while making you look younger, won’t necessarily make you look more attractive to others.

[Image via ShutterStock]