The Cost of Recovery
Hotels, private nursing, hyperbaric therapy—how to budget for everything that follows an out-of-town facelift
We talk a lot about the rising cost of facelifts. People seem to find the topic endlessly fascinating/infuriating, which I get. A few years ago, six-figure facelifts made headlines. Today, they’ve become almost expected.
Friends and followers are sometimes surprised to learn that the big plastic surgery organizations, like the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, The Aesthetic Society, and the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, still put the average surgeon’s fee for a facelift between $10,000 and $25,000. This may seem overly optimistic (or downright preposterous) to those who are currently in the consultation trenches and receiving quotes for ten times these amounts.
Recently, a lovely reader from NYC wrote me about her search for a competent and compassionate facelift surgeon who doesn’t cost a small fortune. We brainstormed surgeons in her area, but even the reputedly “affordable” ones still started around $60K. This resourceful reader then discovered a facial plastic surgeon who seemingly checked all the boxes for training, safety, experience, results, reviews, and bedside manner—and for a deep plane face and neck lift, plus anesthesia, her quote was about a third of those other “affordable” estimates. Her rate was reasonable. Really reasonable. Maybe a little too reasonable? “How sad that her price is making me nervous,” my reader wrote. “We’ve been conditioned to expect insane fees.”
So true! I often marvel at the sheer number of folks signing up for the procedures I report on, especially when so many people are traveling out of state for surgery. Because, then, there’s not only the surgeon’s fee, anesthesia, and facility costs, but all the usual travel expenses plus everything that follows the facelift: the aftercare facility (for a night or two), the hotel (for a week or two), the private nursing care (for at least the first 24 hours), the recovery-appropriate meals, and the hyperbaric oxygen treatments, which are generally recommended if not required post-op. My brain almost has trouble computing the dollars involved, particularly in plastic-surgery meccas like New York City and Beverly Hills.
Since I’m guessing some of you might feel the same, I reached out to surgeons across the country to try to get an idea of the real cost of facelift recovery, which, for out-of-town patients, can include up to 14 days of accommodations. Working with their patient care coordinators, these 10 surgeons came through with some illuminating facts and figures, which I hope you’ll find helpful.
