Dr. Andrew Jacono: Helping Patients Look Their “Natural Best”!

It’s refreshing to meet plastic surgeons with the gift of making patients look like themselves, only better. This is why I appreciate Upper East Side doc Andrew Jacono. You positively cannot tell that he has “done work” on his patients.

I recently ran into one of New York’s most famous cases of socialite bad plastic surgery–probably the most famous case of it this side of Michael Jackson–and I thought, “She should have gone to Dr. Jacono!” The poor lady hid for years after making big-time press for bad face work and while she had it refined in recent years, she still had a Bride Of Frankenstein look. I would like to think that she still has time to go to Dr. Jacono even though she is getting up there in years!

I not only got to check out Dr. Jacono’s beautiful new offices at 630 Park Avenue with an entrance just across from the now historically marked Andy Warhol townhouse (he is probably the only doctor with Damien Hurst art in the hallway and a VIP waiting room), but he personally showed me some of his before and after photos on his computer. I was totally floored. His facelifts are able to fill in those dreaded dark “hollows” as well as jowls that faces get as it loses collagen. I was most impressed by how Dr. Jacono is able to redefine jaw lines and remove jowls during a facelift. He “goes in” through the inner ear and one of his secrets is that he massages facial muscles during the facelift procedure. He has removed some of the most severe jowls I have ever seen, and those patients easily look 20 years younger. I had no idea that the key to “turning back the clock” is even more about a strong jawline and lack of jowls then it is about wrinkle free eyes or foreheads. I got a mini education in facelifts from Dr. J although I have to admit that some of the medical terminology goes over my head.

If you get a consultation with the dual-certified Dr. Jacono, he will also discuss lasers and dermal fillers with you and is brutally honest about how well they will work on you, the pain level and how long the results will last. Dr. J will tell you when surgery is a better option than a painful laser. I asked him about the use of Ulteraphy on “tree trunk lines” and jowls and he made it clear it was not worthwhile both in terms of pain level and how long the results last.

He is a master of subtle work with fillers–his “liquid rhinoplasty” gives your nose an instant lift. Few people realize that noses droop as we age and this is an instant pick-me-up that takes five to ten years off your appearance. In a nutshell, Dr. J uses injectable fillers and botulinum toxin to restore a more symmetric look to your nose. Controlled and precise injections can make the nose look more proportional and smaller in the facial frame. The results are instantaneous and there is essentially no recovery, unlike surgery. The most common filler used is Radiesse®, which is made up of calcium hydroxyl appetite crystals that are very similar to the mineral found in the bones of the nose. It is also ideal because it lasts twice as long as most other fillers (hyaluronic acids such as Restylane, Juvederm)–Dr. J says that patients get approximately one year’s “wear” from this procedure.

Dr. J also creates something else that is remarkably fast, easy and effective–he calls it a “liquid facelift.” He uses fillers such as Voluma, Restylane Lift, Radiesse, Belotero and Juvederm, Dr. Jacono creates a liquid facelift with a multi-layered, custom approach for each patient based on their specific goals and needs. Doctor Jacono does not overfill faces and is extremely conservative, adding less filler not more so that the result looks natural. Most of these fillers are made of Hyaluronic Acid and because of this they can be dissolved away and modified with an injected enzyme called Hyaluronidase. For the smaller fine lines and wrinkles, Dr. Jacono will use a neurotoxin such as Botox or Dysport to block the muscles that cause the wrinkles to appear. This is usually done for areas of the face such as the brow, eyes, and lips.

I personally got the “liquid rhinoplasty” as well as Voluma injected into my upper cheek area by Dr. Jacono and I swear that I need less makeup as a result–hard to believe but I feel like I am naturally “contoured” now! Just below you can take a look at some of the doctor’s most dramatic non-surgical work! You can see a bump non-surgically “removed” from a young patient’s nose with a few injections of Voluma. It looks like she got a full-on nose job! It’s unbelievable!

For more info or to make an appointment, go to http://www.newyorkfacialplasticsurgery.com. It is very worthwhile to check out Dr. Jacono’s third book which fully explains his philosophy towards creating natural facial results. It’s called THE FACE OF THE FUTURE: Look Natural, Not Plastic and you can read about many of his procedures from lip augmentation to chin reshaping (you can order it through the website).