Dr. Alannah Phelan Reveals the Top Facelift Trends in 2025
Posted on February 18, 2025 | by Boston Plastic Surgery
The major trends happening now in facelift surgery include comprehensive treatment of your skin at the time of your surgical procedure. These treatments include medical-grade skincare pre- and post-operatively, skin resurfacing (i.e. laser), and nanofat transfer.
These innovative add-ons to facelifts are delivering remarkable results! Simply put, achieving beautiful, rejuvenated skin isn’t just about tightness or looking wrinkle-free—it’s also about enhancing skin tone and texture.
Medical Grade Skincare
When: Before and after your facelift
When Dr. Phelan sees a new facelift patient in their consultation, she gets them started on medical-grade skincare right away! This professional type of skincare is typically only available from physicians’ offices, as it delivers much higher concentrations of active anti-aging ingredients than are found in drugstore products. Our Boston Skin Wellness Center carries the full range of ZO Skin Health products, which our team has trusted for years to deliver excellent results.
The right skincare regimen helps you prepare for surgery by reducing age-related pigmentation, such as dark spots or sun spots, and softening the appearance of fine lines on the surface of the skin that a facelift can’t address. And, you can continue this regimen after surgery to help protect your results.
Further, while facelift surgery typically treats the mid-face and neck, medical-grade skincare provides improvements in all areas that you apply the products—from the top of the forehead to the neck and even the decolletage and hands. This can help to promote more even, natural-looking skin tone and texture.
Skin Resurfacing
When: At the same time as your facelift
At the time of surgery, Dr. Phelan also recommends planning for a combined skin resurfacing treatment to reverse aging skin tone and texture. With either laser or microneedling, your skin tone can see dramatic refinement that complements the deeper facelift changes (i.e. tightened skin and a more defined jawline). Without making you look obviously “done,” this glow-up adds to a “wow” factor of your healed facelift results.
Patients have two highly effective options for skin resurfacing, both of which can be performed while you are under anesthesia for your facelift surgery:
C02 Laser
C02 laser is a gold-standard skin resurfacing treatment, and our laser is fractionated to reduce downtime (this simply means the beams are spread apart in a checkerboard pattern). C02 laser is especially effective at reducing:
- Fines lines
- Pigmentation, i.e. dark spots
- Perioral fine lines around the mouth
RF Microneedling
The second option for improving skin tone is microneedling (collagen induction therapy) with radio-frequency energy, which increases the skin tightening effects of the microneedling to create similar effects to the C02 laser. However, RF microneedling may be more ideal if you:
- Are concerned about smoothing acne scarring
- Have a darker skin tone, and thus have a heightened risk of hyperpigmentation
Fat Grafting &/or Nanofat Transfer
When: At the same time as your facelift
Fat grafting has become one of Dr. Phelan’s most-recommended add-ons to facelifts in order to add back lost volume and serve as a longer-lasting “filler” in key areas of the face. This process begins with harvesting your own natural fat using a liposuction procedure in areas like the abdomen or flanks, where you have “donor fat” to spare. Dr. Phelan then prepares the fat and artfully reinjects beneath the skin in areas like the cheeks, temples, chin, and marionette lines.
Nanofat transfer is an additional treatment that is growing in popularity, which can be done in combination with traditional fat transfer or as a stand-alone procedure. Dr. Phelan harvests the fat just as she would with fat grafting, but instead processes it into “nanofat,” which then can be applied to the skin after either laser or microneedling to speed up and enhance skin healing, leading to complexion results like firmer skin, reduced fine lines, and more even skin tone. It is particularly powerful when used in combination with laser resurfacing.
These regenerative techniques work together with the techniques of a facelift to give you maximum rejuvenation with a single recovery period.
About Boston Facelift Surgeon, Dr. Alannah Phelan
Dr. Alannah Phelan is a fellowship-trained plastic surgeon offering a full range of plastic surgery for the face, breast, and body in Boston. With meticulous attention to detail, an artistic eye, and precise surgical techniques, Dr. Phelan delivers natural-looking rejuvenation and enhancements that complement your innate beauty. Call 617-786-7600 to schedule your consultation today!
