03/30/2026
The reaction to Denise Richards’ facelift has been harsh, and not entirely fair. Some of what people are criticizing may not even be from surgery at all. Years of filler use distorts anatomy. Significant weight loss hollows the face. No surgeon starts with a blank canvas.
But there is a real conversation here worth having.
My patients often come in scared. Not of surgery itself, but scared of ending up with that mask-like, frozen look that social media has somehow convinced us is what attractive is supposed to look like. My patients just want to look like themselves, just younger, rested and recognizable.
As a female plastic surgeon, I hear that differently. I live in a face too. And what I’ve learned is that aggressive dissection, like removing too much fat, muscle, or gland, often creates the opposite of youth. Hollow cheeks. Prominent cheekbones. A face that looks gaunt and severe rather than restored.
Because youth was never hollow or sharp. Youth is soft. Volume is youth.
My philosophy on aging gracefully isn’t dramatic transformation. It’s prevention, maintenance, and when the time is right — precise restoration. Protecting volume before it’s lost. Improving skin quality from within. And restoring structure surgically only when needed, in a way that looks like you but not an exaggerated version of you.
