Who is a good candidate for a facelift?

Candidacy for a facelift starts with a short checklist, and most of it has nothing to do with the mirror. This is a deciding-stage question.

The checklist

The American Society of Plastic Surgeons gives a general profile. In general, good candidates for a facelift include healthy individuals who do not have medical conditions that impair healing, nonsmokers, and individuals with a positive outlook and realistic expectations.

How to apply it

Two of those items concern your body and one concerns your expectations. Answer all three honestly before any consultation, including the one about expectations.

What shifts the answer

The profile opens with "in general," so treat it as a starting point rather than a ruling. A change in your health, or in whether you smoke, changes where you stand, and your surgeon makes the final call.

The question that usually follows

Readers who fit the profile then ask what the operation involves and what can go wrong. Healthdirect Australia has a facelift procedure page, UCSF Health a facelift treatment page, the NHS a facelift (rhytidectomy) page, and the American Society of Plastic Surgeons a facelift surgery page.