In the early 2000s, a major paradigm shift took place in facial aesthetics.

Yes, everyone wanted to get more beautiful, but having surgery was a terrible thing.

The stories of those who had surgery but ended up with twisted mouths, those whose skin was as stretched as a sheet, those who could not be recognized by their brother-in-law since their looks changed significantly, those who got bald and those who got blind were almost exemplary.

Oh, if only there was a non-surgical way to get younger and beautiful.

The demand went as follows: Hey doctor, whatever will be done should be done immediately. It should be painless. No swelling, no bruising. It should heal quickly - no scars, no incisions, no blades. No anesthesia - definitely not. It should be very beautiful and no one should notice my being operated. Well, you know, we will marry our son, so it had better not be too expensive.

This list of demands that plastic surgeons deemed impossible to meet was "reasonable" for the cosmetic industry. In a short time, "miraculous" products and devices began to take their place on the market one by one. All were approved by physicians. Some were even approved by the magnificent FDA. Practitioners did not "necessarily" have to be surgeons. Surgeons were already very boring. They always wanted to cut and cut more. Between you and me, they didn't really understand the female soul and spirit.

It was in this environment that the irresistible rise of minimally-invasive procedures began. Botulinum toxin and synthetic fillers became an integral part of daily life. As the age and level of getting injections went down to high school graduation balls, those who turned 30 but still had no facial injections were labeled as short on looks in a circle of friends.

A complete frenzy for aesthetic procedures.

It is not clear whether the society was inclined to go crazy or whether the multi-billion dollar cosmetic industry drove the society crazy, but the die was cast.

Billions of units of botulinum toxin and tanker loads of synthetic fillers have been administered to millions of people over the past two decades.

The energy spent for energy-based applications such as radiofrequency, focused ultrasound and laser in the last decade would have allowed Winterfell to spend the winter in great comfort.

We could tie a ribbon around the world if we lined up the ropes that were laid under people's skin with various names including train tracks, spider web and French lace, just for the sake of lifting faces with threads in the last 5 years.

That was the era of minimally-invasive procedures, and facial rejuvenation surgeries were outdated. It's hard to believe, but even some of the plastic surgeons seemed convinced of this.

Besides, who would go under the knife for something that could be done with a needle? Technology and medicine had advanced so much that no one who "knew how to take care of themselves" would age as they would in the past.

We were asking:

Honestly, how did we have these old faces all of a sudden?

These had to be those who missed the train for minimally-invasive aesthetics.

Maybe they didn't miss it, but what worked for everyone didn't work for them unluckily. Maybe the hands of their surgeons weren't "magical" like their friend's doctor's.

Maybe this was all too good to be true. Just like those anti-aging creams that were bought for a fortune and applied abundantly in the 80s-90s. Honestly, how did the beauty icon movie stars of 20-30 years ago suddenly age? Did they not have enough money for anti-aging creams, the so-called regenerative care complexes developed in Swiss laboratories?

I think you already know the answer.

In the next section, we will take a look at what facial rejuvenation surgeons have been dealing with in the last 15 years as minimally-invasive procedures enjoyed their golden age.

Next section:

The Return Of Facelift

As minimally-invasive aesthetic procedures have been living their golden age in the last 15 years, pharmaceutical companies introduced the next generation fillers, technology companies introduced new and revolutionary devices or aesthetic physicians introduced a fantastic invention that made plastic surgery unnecessary. And all the while, plastic surgeons have been busy refining centuries of experience behind the scenes.

You know, those faces that are stretched like a sheet with modified facial expressions, those results of the surgery, in which surgical scars and symptoms betray you, were filtered by positive science. Where did the negative results come from and how could we achieve more painless, more natural, more holistic, more permanent and more effective results with less scars? Fortunately, advancing information technology has allowed plastic surgeons around the world to share their knowledge on an unprecedented level. It was no longer necessary to travel to the other side of the world to learn how an operation was performed or how it could be improved. By the way, going to the other end of the world just feels like visiting neighbors now. In such an environment, deep plane facelift assumed its purest form, and endoscopic and minimal access approaches enabled shorter scars in facial rejuvenation surgeries. All complications were discussed one by one. Thousands of articles and hundreds of books were written on treatment and prevention strategies.

And finally came a level where the faces shaped by facial rejuvenation surgery were not initially singled out as an "operated" face by those unfamiliar with this work. There was a change in Ms. Brown, but what was it? It was definitely not surgery! Because if she had surgery, her face would have changed a lot. She would have looked like someone else, or her face should have looked younger but her neck should have looked old. Or her eyes should have gotten smaller.

Facial rejuvenation surgeries started to rise again in the USA after a 15-year hiatus. ASAPS data shows that they have become one of the top 5 most frequently performed plastic surgery procedures for the first time after so many years. Two different theories are put forward to explain the reasons for this change. The first theory, the “rebound” theory, suggests that when people looked back on the total time, total money, total swelling-bruising time and total effort they spent on minimally-invasive procedures for years, they saw that what they got offered no real return on investment. Therefore, they began to prefer clearer, more precise and more effective methods. The second theory, the "gateway" theory, suggests that minimally-invasive plastic procedures got people through the door, put their feet in the water, thus making it easier for them to dive into the water later.

It is impossible to know which theory is more accurate, but it is certain that facial rejuvenation surgeries are back and will definitely stay here for a long time.