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History of facial plastic surgery

Facelift surgery moved from skin excision in the early 1900s to wide undermining in the 1920s and to the SMAS layer in the 1970s (PMID 29204547). These are the surgeons behind each step, from Eugen Hollander and Suzanne Noel to Tord Skoog and Sam Hamra, with what each one introduced and the paper or book behind it, oldest first.

The surgeons behind the modern faceliftThe papers that changed the faceliftHistory of the facelift

Timeline

Oldest first. Each event links to the surgeon's entry; the line under it is the source.

  1. 1901
    Hollander facelift, date from his 1932 account
    PMID 29204547
  2. 1906
    Lexer operates on an actress (reported 1931)
    PMC5698509
  3. Miller excises bag-like folds around the eyes
    PMID 3055870
  4. 1907
    Miller, The Correction of Featural Imperfections
    PMC5698509
  5. 1912
    Hollander chapter "Cosmetic Surgery"
    PMC5698509
  6. Noel rhytidectomy in France
    PMID 38809028
  7. 1919
    Passot and Bourguet papers on facial wrinkles
    PMC5698509
  8. 1920
    Bettman continuous facelift incision
    PMID 3287848
  9. 1921
    Joseph, "Hangewangenplastik (Melomioplastik)"
    PMC5698509
  10. 1926
    Noel, La Chirurgie esthetique
    PMC5698509
  11. 1927
    Bames, subcutaneous undermining and redraping
    PMID 26430622
  12. 1928
    Joseph post-tragal incision
    PMC5698509
  13. 1951
    Castanares blepharoplasty for herniated orbital fat
    PMID 14864073
  14. 1960
    Aufricht sutures deep to the superficial fat
    PMC5698509
  15. 1961
    Baker, chemical ablation of rhytides
    PMID 13864171
  16. 1967
    First Baker Gordon Symposium
    PMID 26818283
  17. 1973
    Skoog presents the fascia-platysma flap in Miami
    PMC4579162
  18. 1974
    Guerrero-Santos cervical muscular lift
    PMID 4843119
  19. 1976
    Mitz and Peyronie describe the SMAS
    PMID 935283
  20. 1977
    Owsley platysma-fascial rhytidectomy
    PMID 928549
  21. Baker male rhytidectomy
    PMID 909960
  22. Rees and Aston split-face SMAS study
    PMID 928550
  23. 1978
    Connell platysma muscle flaps
    PMID 365042
  24. 1979
    Aston platysma flap rhytidoplasty
    PMID 397794
  25. Baker and Conley facial nerve anatomy
    PMID 515227
  26. 1980
    Ellenbogen and Karlin neck criteria
    PMID 7443846
  27. de Castro platysma anatomy
    PMID 7433553
  28. 1981
    Loeb fat pad sliding for lid depressions
    PMID 7338007
  29. 1988
    Psillakis subperiosteal lift
    PMID 3406175
  30. 1989
    Furnas retaining ligaments of the cheek
    PMID 2909050
  31. Tessier subperiosteal mask-lift
    PMID 2473674
  32. 1990
    Hamra deep-plane rhytidectomy
    PMID 2359803
  33. Feldman corset platysmaplasty
    PMID 2304983
  34. 1991
    Ramirez extended subperiosteal lift
    PMID 1852815
  35. 1992
    Stuzin superficial and deep facial fascias
    PMID 1741467
  36. Hamra composite rhytidectomy
    PMID 1615067
  37. Mendelson SMAS release with periosteal fixation
    PMID 1561253
  38. Barton SMAS release and the nasolabial fold
    PMID 1409995
  39. 1993
    Owsley malar fat pad lift
    PMID 8438018
  40. Flowers routine canthopexy
    PMID 8485945
  41. 1994
    Isse endoscopic forehead lift
    PMID 8122572
  42. Vasconez endoscopic brow lift
    PMID 7972423
  43. Ramirez endoscopic full facelift
    PMID 7817884
  44. 1995
    Hamra arcus marginalis release
    PMID 7624408
  45. Connell and Marten trifurcated SMAS flap
    PMID 8526157
  46. 1996
    Knize mechanism of eyebrow ptosis
    PMID 8643714
  47. Aston describes FAME
    PMID 16932185
  48. 1997
    Baker lateral SMASectomy
    PMID 9252623
  49. 2000
    Hester transblepharoplasty midface approach
    PMID 10627009
  50. Little malar imbrication
    PMID 10626999
  51. Goldberg orbital fat repositioning
    PMID 10697189
  52. 2002
    Tonnard and Verpaele MACS lift
    PMID 11994618
  53. Mendelson prezygomatic space
    PMID 12172155
  54. Barton high SMAS
    PMID 19332004
  55. 2004
    Hamra septal reset
    PMID 15253208
  56. 2007
    Rohrich and Pessa facial fat compartments
    PMID 17519724
  57. 2008
    Marten high SMAS facelift
    PMID 18922311
  58. Mendelson premasseter space
    PMID 18183455
  59. 2014
    Auersvald hemostatic net
    PMID 23949130
  60. 2026
    Mitz fifty-year review of the SMAS
    PMID 42481023

1901-1931

Skin excision and undermining.

Eugen Hollander

1867-1932 · PMID 32408370
  • Stated in 1932 that he performed a facelift in 1901 on a Polish aristocrat; his 1912 chapter "Cosmetic Surgery" described elliptical skin excisions near the hairline and ears (Barrett 2016, PMID 29204547; full text PMC5698509).
  • Resected skin only, without undermining (PMID 32408370).

Erich Lexer

1867-1937 · PMID 4591985
  • Undermined the skin several centimetres and placed sutures through the superficial temporal fascia; Locher and Feinendegen call him the initial pioneer of modern facelift surgery (PMID 32408370).
  • Reported in 1931 a 1906 operation on an actress: S-shaped temporal excisions and elliptical forehead and hairline incisions (PMC5698509).
  • Book: Die gesamte Wiederherstellungschirurgie, JA Barth, Leipzig, 1931 (Kim 2015 reference list, PMC4579162).

Charles Conrad Miller

  • Biographical sketch: Mulliken 1977 (PMID 319464).
  • 1906: excision of bag-like folds of skin around the eyes (PMID 3055870); 1907, with Florence Miller: folds, bags and wrinkles about the eyes (PMID 3055871).
  • First description of blepharoplasty technique in the United States, 1906 (PMID 38809028).
  • Book: The Correction of Featural Imperfections, Chicago, 1907; Barrett names him possibly the first American to perform a facelift (PMC5698509).

Jacques Joseph

1865-1934 · PMID 6341735
  • 1921: "Hangewangenplastik (Melomioplastik)", Dtsch Med Wochenschr 47:287 (Barrett reference list, PMC5698509).
  • Introduced the post-tragal incision to the vertical preauricular incision in 1928 (PMC5698509).

Raymond Passot

  • Pupil of Hippolyte Morestin; with Francois Dubois published French rhytidectomy techniques between the wars and ran them as outpatient surgery (PMID 26050425).
  • 1919: "La chirurgie esthetique des rides du visage", Presse Med; elliptical excision technique (Barrett, PMC5698509).

Julien Bourguet

1876-1952 · PMID 1696091
  • First to describe subcutaneous dissection with undermining, and fat excision for periorbital fat pads (PMC5698509).
  • 1919 papers on facial wrinkles and on orbital fat hernias, Bull Acad Med (Barrett reference list, PMC5698509).
  • Vrebos 1990 covers his face lifting and blepharoplasty techniques (PMID 1696091); the titles of Marchac 1983 and Lam 2004 name him the pioneer of aesthetic neck surgery and the father of cervical rhytidectomy (PMID 6354553, PMID 15023804).

Suzanne Noel

1878-1954 · PMID 2465731
  • Performed a rhytidectomy in France in 1912 (PMID 38809028).
  • 1926 book La Chirurgie esthetique: son role social: facialplasty, blepharoplasty, forehead and neck lifting (PMC5698509).
  • The "petit operation": incisions hidden in the hairline, short incisions, low skin tension, set vectors, staged operations; the basis of the mini-lift and short-scar facelift (PMID 31637506).

Adalbert G. Bettman

1883-1964 · PMID 14310248
  • 1920: one continuous temporal scalp, preauricular, postauricular and mastoid incision, close to the standard facelift incision today; "Plastic and cosmetic surgery of the face", Northwest Med (PMID 3287848; PMC5698509).

H. Bames

  • 1927: "Truth and fallacies of face peeling and facelifting", subcutaneous undermining and skin redraping (PMID 26430622; PMC4579162).

1951-1976

Eyelids, peels and the deeper layer.

S. Castanares

  • 1951: "Blepharoplasty for herniated intraorbital fat; anatomical basis for a new approach" (PMID 14864073).
  • Later papers: classification of baggy eyelids, 1977 (PMID 850700); lateral fat compartment of the lower eyelid, 1983 (PMID 6869105).
  • A Salvador Castanares operated live at the first Baker Gordon Symposium, 1967 (PMID 28520910; full text PMC5846699).

Gustave Aufricht

  • 1960: first to promote suturing deep to the superficial fat (PMC5698509).
  • Honorary award, American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, 1972 (PMID 4550073).

Thomas J. Baker and Howard L. Gordon

  • Baker life dates 1925-2020 (aaps1921.org).
  • 1961: chemical ablation of rhytides, first report (PMID 13864171); 1962: chemical peel combined with rhytidectomy, the formula later named Baker Gordon (PMID 13864170; aaps1921.org).
  • 1967: first Baker Gordon Symposium, the first live-surgery symposium on aesthetic surgery (PMID 26818283).
  • 1971: the temporal face lift ("mini-lift") (PMID 5549422).

Tord Skoog

1915-1977 · PMID 345312
  • Raised the superficial fascia ("buccal fascia") in continuity with the platysma and fixed it superoposteriorly: the first facelift through the deeper fascial layer (PMC5698509).
  • Presented at the Seventh Annual Symposium on Cosmetic Surgery, Miami, 1973; published in Plastic Surgery: New Methods and Refinements, Saunders, 1974 (PMC4579162).
  • Lemmon and Hamra 1980: Skoog rhytidectomy in 577 patients (PMID 7355165).

Jose Guerrero-Santos

1932-2017
  • Life dates 1932-2017; founded the Jalisco Reconstructive Surgery Institute, opened 1976 (aaps1921.org).
  • 1974: muscular lift in cervical rhytidoplasty (PMID 4843119).

1976-1989

The SMAS, the platysma and the neck.

Vladimir Mitz and M. Peyronie

  • 1976: described the SMAS in the parotid and cheek by dissection, radiograph and histology; a retrofascial approach is safe over the parotid and dangerous anterior to it (PMID 935283).
  • The layer is continuous with the platysma and the temporoparietal fascia (PMC5698509).
  • Mitz 2026: fifty-year review of the SMAS (PMID 42481023).

John Q. Owsley Jr.

1928-2014
  • Life dates 1928-2014; sole author of Aesthetic Facial Surgery, Saunders, 1993; started a one-year aesthetic surgery fellowship at Davies Medical Center in 1990 (aaps1921.org).
  • 1977: platysma-fascial rhytidectomy (PMID 928549); 1983: SMAS-platysma face lift, six-year experience (PMID 6828592).
  • 1993: lifting the malar fat pad for the nasolabial fold (PMID 8438018).

Bruce F. Connell

1927-2019
  • Life dates 1927-2019; plastic surgery training at the Mayo Clinic; used no dressing after facelift (link.springer.com).
  • 1978: platysma muscle flaps turned into a deep neck sling to remove platysmal bands (PMID 365042); lipectomy with a full-width platysma sling (PMID 625501).
  • 1995, with Marten: the trifurcated SMAS flap (PMID 8526157).

Daniel C. Baker

  • 1977: male rhytidectomy; large hematomas more than twice as frequent in men (PMID 909960).
  • 1979, with Conley: facial nerve branch anatomy and injury avoidance (PMID 515227).
  • 1997: lateral SMASectomy, removal of a strip of SMAS between the mobile and fixed SMAS (PMID 9252623; PMC4579162).

Sherrell J. Aston

  • 1979: platysma muscle flap rhytidoplasty in 75 patients, eight platysma deformities (PMID 397794); 1983: platysma-SMAS rhytidoplasty (PMID 6354554).
  • Described finger-assisted malar elevation (FAME) in 1996 (PMID 16932185).

Richard Ellenbogen

  • 1980, with Karlin: visual criteria for the youthful neck; anterior platysma adjustment and subplatysmal fat excision (PMID 7443846).

Claudio Cardoso de Castro

  • 1980: platysma anatomy in 50 cadavers; three patterns of medial fibre crossing below the chin (PMID 7433553).

R. Loeb

  • 1981: fat pad sliding and fat grafting to level lower-lid depressions (PMID 7338007); 1993: naso-jugal groove leveling with fat (PMID 8485948).

Jorge M. Psillakis

  • 1988: subperiosteal release of soft tissue from orbit, maxilla, malar bone and nose; 105 patients over four years (PMID 3406175).

Paul Tessier

1917-2008 · PMID 19164976; aaps1921.org
  • 1989: the subperiosteal "mask-lift", complete subperiosteal dissection of malar bones, zygomatic arches and orbital margins (PMID 2473674).

David W. Furnas

1931-2022 · plasticsurgery.org
  • 1989: the retaining ligaments of the cheek: zygomatic (McGregor's patch), mandibular, platysma-auricular and anterior platysma-cutaneous (PMID 2909050).

1990-2002

Deep plane, composite, subperiosteal and endoscopic.

Sam T. Hamra

1937-2025 · northdallasfuneralhome.com
  • 1990: deep-plane rhytidectomy, a Skoog sub-SMAS dissection carried over the zygomaticus muscles and past the nasolabial fold; 403 patients (PMID 2359803).
  • 1992: composite rhytidectomy, platysma, cheek fat and orbicularis oculi lifted as one flap; 167 cases (PMID 1615067).
  • 1995: arcus marginalis release with lower-lid fat advanced over the orbital rim instead of removed; 152 cases (PMID 7624408); 2004: the septal reset (PMID 15253208).

Joel J. Feldman

  • 1990: corset platysmaplasty, a continuous midline platysma suture that leaves no free muscle edge; 75 patients (PMID 2304983).

Oscar M. Ramirez

  • 1991: extended subperiosteal face lift; no nerve injury in 28 patients against 11 and 20 percent with the Psillakis and Tessier approaches (PMID 1852815).
  • 1994: endoscopic full facelift (PMID 7817884); 1995: endoscopically assisted biplanar forehead lift (PMID 7624404); 2002: endoscopic midface (PMID 11786834).

James M. Stuzin

Dr. James Stuzin, Top 500 #3: dossier
  • 1992, with Baker and Gordon: the facial soft tissue as concentric layers, facial nerve branches deep to the deep fascia, retaining ligaments from bone or fixed structures (PMID 1741467).
  • 1995: extended SMAS dissection for the midface (PMID 7634739).

Bryan C. Mendelson

  • 1992: complete release of the anterior SMAS from the zygoma with periosteal fixation; 135 patients (PMID 1561253).
  • 2002: the prezygomatic space (PMID 12172155); 2008: the premasseter space, whose expansion forms the jowl (PMID 18183455).

Fritz E. Barton Jr.

  • 1992: Skoog modification releasing deep SMAS attachments, cheek raised as one skin-fat-SMAS flap; 100 patients (PMID 1409995).
  • 2002: the "high SMAS" face lift (PMID 19332004).

R. S. Flowers

  • 1993: canthopexy as a routine part of lower blepharoplasty (PMID 8485945); brow and frontalis biomechanics in blepharoplasty (PMID 8485934).

Nicanor G. Isse

  • Endoscopic forehead lift, first reported at meetings in Los Angeles and Buenos Aires in 1992; published 1994 with 61 cases (PMID 8122572).

Luis O. Vasconez

  • 1994: endoscopic coronal brow lift in 32 patients, no ear-to-ear coronal incision (PMID 7972423).

David M. Knize

  • 1996: mechanism of eyebrow ptosis in 20 cadavers; the lateral brow descends first (PMID 8643714); limited-incision forehead lift (PMID 8643715).

T. Roderick Hester Jr., Clinton D. McCord and Mark A. Codner

  • 2000: transblepharoplasty subperiosteal approach to the lower lid and midface in 757 patients over five years (PMID 10627009).
  • 2003: lateral canthal anchoring (PMID 12832900).
  • Codner life dates 1961-2020; wrote a periorbital surgery book with "Sonny McCord" and founded the Atlanta oculoplastics symposium (aaps1921.org).

J. William Little

  • 2000: restoring the shape of the midface ranked first, ahead of the nasolabial fold (PMID 10626998); malar imbrication, volumetric goals over tension, 172 patients (PMID 10626999).

Robert A. Goldberg

  • 2000: transconjunctival orbital fat repositioning into a subperiosteal pocket over the maxilla (PMID 10697189).

Patrick Tonnard and Alexis Verpaele

  • 2002: minimal access cranial suspension (MACS) lift, a modified 1999 S-lift using purse-string sutures anchored to deep temporal fascia; 88 patients (PMID 11994618).

2007-2014

Fat compartments and hematoma.

Andre Auersvald and Luiz A. Auersvald

  • 2014: the hemostatic net, a running transfixing 5-0 nylon suture through skin and SMAS-platysma; no hematoma in 405 patients against 17 of 120 controls (PMID 23949130).

Open questions

Dates and names the fetched sources do not settle.

  • Priority for the first facelift rests on Hollander's own 1932 account of a 1901 operation (PMC5698509).
  • Bames 1927, Lexer 1931, Skoog 1974 and Noel 1926 are books or journals outside PubMed; citations come from the Barrett and Kim reference lists (PMC4579162).
  • The 1951 author appears in PubMed as "Castanares S"; the ASAPS history names a Salvador Castanares at the 1967 symposium (PMID 28520910). No fetched source links the two records.