There are times in our lives when age is important. We have to be old enough to vote, old enough to drink, old enough to date, old enough to study astrophysics. But there are other times when age kind of gets in the way, right? So which category does our favorite plastic surgery procedure fall into?
Turns out, that kind of depends on which procedure we’re talking about. There’s no strict age limit on any procedure, per se—but are some norms when it comes to what’s smart and what’s tasteful (always go with good taste—seriously).
The Right Age for Breast Augmentation
For example, we could definitely be too young for a boob job. Most surgeons are hesitant to operate on women under 18 (outside of special circumstances), but it still happen occasionally. Most surgeons work on a case-by-case basis.
But it’s hard to imagine being too old for a breast augmentation. Sure, most older women aren’t all that interested in getting larger breasts (doing something about the perkiness, on the other hand…).
The right age for a breast augmentation (sorry, boob job) is less about our actual age and more about how young we want to feel.
The Right Age for a Facelift
A facelift, on the other hand, is almost always about our actual age. In a way. We don’t want to get a procedure like a facelift when we’re too young. If there aren’t wrinkles and lines to fix, we would be setting ourselves up for a few weeks of pain and recovery for no reason.
And here’s the other thing: a facelift doesn’t stop aging—it just resets it. So we want to wait until the right moment, until we could get the most out of that “reset” and still enjoy the results.
For most of us, that means facelifts are a great option in our 50s. But everyone will age (and develop wrinkles) at a unique rate. (And we can always rely on Botox and Juvederm in the mean time.)
The Right Age for a Nose Job
We’ve all heard stories of kids in high school or middle school getting a nose job to avoid bullying. And that sucks. Nobody should be bullied to that extent. But it does show that even the young can get rhinoplasty procedures in a safe and effective way.
Of course, we don’t have to be young to rock a nose job. It’s one of those “almost all ages” procedures (though, again, some might just reach a certain age where they just kind of accept the look of their nose).
But let’s put it like this: it’s not uncommon for younger patients to get rhinoplasty—much younger patients than you might see with a breast augmentation procedure.
No Need for ID (Actually, Yes, Bring Your ID)
The age on your ID isn’t going to be as important as the age of your DNA. Or, basically, the development of your body. Surgeons will decide whether our bodies are in a place where surgery is a good idea, and that has less to do with how many birthdays we’ve had and more to do with our overall maturity.
And that’s true whether we’re getting a breast augmentation in Houston or a nose job in Los Angeles. It’s kind of like a Goldilocks thing. We want to be in just the right place for whatever procedure that seems right—not too young, not too old, but just right!