If you’re dealing with signs of aging on your face, whether those signs are frown lines between your eyebrows, a loss of volume in your cheeks or more and more wrinkles, you have several options when it comes to dealing with them. Gone are the days when your only real option was surgery.

Today, you can choose between injections and fillers or a surgical procedure, depending on a host of factors, from how long you want the results to last to what area of the face you’d like to focus on. Your facial plastic surgeon can help you weigh the pros and cons of surgery versus a minimally invasive treatment so that you can choose the one that’s more right for you.

Liquid vs. Surgical Facelift

A liquid facelift takes less than an hour to perform and usually doesn’t have any downtime or recovery period. For some people, that might be reason enough to choose it over a traditional, surgical facelift. But, it’s important to understand that a liquid facelift, which might involve Botox injections as well as injectable fillers, doesn’t correct the same issues as surgery.

Restoring lost volume is usually the main goal of a liquid facelift, while the main goal of a surgical facelift is tighten skin that has become loose or sagging. Both treatments will reduce lines and wrinkles, although a facelift will usually only focus on lines and wrinkles in the lower portion of the face. During a liquid facelift, the surgeon can inject Botox into the forehead or brow area as well, to temporarily reduce the appearance of frown lines.

Brow Lift vs. Botox

A facelift usually only focuses on the lower part of the face. If your main area of concern is the forehead and brow area, a brow lift may be your best option. A surgical brow lift can help smooth out the frown lines between the brows, tighten up a drooping forehead, and reduce the appearance of forehead lines or creases. While a brow lift is usually less invasive than other facial surgeries, since it is performed endoscopically and the incisions made are usually very small, you might not be ready for surgery yet.

In that case, it might be worth considering using Botox to correct any issues around the forehead or eyebrows. After Botox is injected into the brow area, the two vertical frown lines between the eyebrows will fade for about three months. Depending on your needs, it can also be injected in the brow area to reduce droopiness or elevate the eyebrows. While a Botox brow lift has very limited downtime — at the most, your surgeon will advise skipping exercise for several hours after injections–it also produces limited results. In most cases, you will only see results for several months, at which point you can decide to repeat the procedure.

Rhinoplasty vs. Non-Surgical Rhinoplasty

Not every type of facial plastic surgery is performed to reduce the signs of aging. Rhinoplasty is a surgical reshaping of the nose which can be performed to make it smaller, larger or to remove bumps or humps on it. The surgery can also be performed to change the size and shape of a person’s nostrils or to adjust the angle of  the tip of the nose.

While some changes can only be made through surgical rhinoplasty, in some instances, the surgeon can change the shape of the nose using injectable fillers. A non-surgical rhinoplasty might be an appropriate option for a person who has a slightly crooked nose or a small bump on the nose that he or she wants smoothed over. Fillers can change the size of a person’s nose, nor can they adjust the angle of tip or nostrils.

Although fairly limited in terms of what it can do, a non-surgical rhinoplasty can be the right choice for patients who are still on the fence about surgery or for people who want to see what they would look like with a slightly  more symmetrical nose or a smoother nose, but who don’t have the time for surgery or the time for a lengthy recovery. You can also consider a non-surgical rhinoplasty as a trial run, so that you can see if you like the way your nose looks before you commit to a surgical procedure.

It’s worth remembering that deciding on a non-surgical option now doesn’t mean you can’t later decide to have surgery or that having surgery now won’t rule out a non-surgical treatment in the future. Nothing lasts forever, including the results of facial plastic surgery or injections. What’s right for you  now might not be the right option months or years down the road.

If you are in the Virginia Beach area, facial plastic surgeon Dr. Kyle Choe can help you decide on the option that best meets your needs at the moment. Dr. Choe has experience with a variety of procedures, from rhinoplasty to a liquid facelift and can help you better understand what each involves. To schedule a consultation with Dr. Choe, call 757.389.5850 today.