Surgical innovations often stay inside the practice that created them. The extended deep-plane facelift developed by Dr. Andrew Jacono followed a different course. What started in a Manhattan operating room in the early 2000s is now a widely adopted approach to treating structural aging.

Building an Evidence Base

Publication came first. Jacono documented the Minimal Access Deep-Plane Extended facelift, or MADE, in Aesthetic Surgery Journal in 2011 with outcomes from 153 patients. The figures were persuasive: a 3.9% revision rate, hematomas in about 1.9% of cases, and temporary facial nerve injury in 1.3%, each below industry averages.

He kept publishing. A 2019 refinement introduced changes aimed at jawline rejuvenation and lower-face volume, supported by measurements such as the “mandibular defining line,” which tracks improvements in jawline contour. Then in 2021, a medical textbook pulled together lessons from more than 2,000 facelift procedures and set technical standards that other surgeons follow.

Teaching the Method

The dual board-certified facial plastic surgeon has delivered master lectures at over 100 international conferences. Those sessions pass along the details that make the technique work. The surgeon operates below the SMAS layer, releases four ligaments that connect facial tissue to bone, and repositions fallen fat pads in the midface, jawline, and neck vertically, with skin, muscle, and fat kept together.

Practice volume reinforces the instruction. Dr. Andrew Jacono performs roughly 250 extended deep-plane facelifts each year. That repetition refines decisions about which ligaments to release, which direction of lift works best, and where a face’s natural contours lie.

Peers have noticed. Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Dr. Paul Nassif traveled to New York specifically for the procedure. A surgeon choosing another surgeon’s technique for his own face is a telling endorsement.

For patients, the appeal is practical: incisions about one-third the usual length and results that can last roughly twice as long as a standard SMAS facelift, often past a decade. Through teaching and publishing, Dr. Andrew Jacono has turned a personal technique into a shared one. Refer to this article to learn more.

Watch for more about Dr. Andrew Jacono on https://www.youtube.com/c/drandrewjacono