Yale University brought Dr. Andrew Jacono to its residency education program in 2013 to lecture on periorbital rejuvenation and nasal reconstruction. Stanford University’s department of otolaryngology had invited him to grand rounds two years earlier, in May 2011, to explain his approach to lifting the face through a minimal incision. Neither invitation came from a marketing department. Both came from surgical faculties choosing a speaker based on what their residents needed to learn.
Dr. Andrew Jacono, based in New York, has spent more than two decades refining a single procedure: the extended deep-plane facelift, a technique that repositions the skin, muscle and fat of the face as one unit instead of pulling skin alone. The structural approach, along with the research supporting it, carried him into lecture halls at some of the country’s most selective academic medical centers.
An Invitation Earned Through Published Research
Grand rounds are invitation-only sessions in which a hospital’s surgical department brings an outside physician in to teach its own residents and faculty. Dr. Jacono has filled that role at Stanford University’s department of otolaryngology, the University of Pennsylvania’s department of otolaryngology, and Columbia University’s department of otolaryngology on more than one occasion, according to his practice’s own lecture archive. He addressed Yale University’s residency education program as well. His practice also lists Harvard University among the institutions that have hosted his lectures on facelifting, eyelid surgery and rhinoplasty technique.
Published research sits behind each invitation. Dr. Andrew Jacono has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed articles in journals including Aesthetic Surgery Journal and JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery, along with a 2021 textbook on extended deep-plane facelifting. He has served for most of his career as a Fellowship Director for the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, training the next generation of specialists in advanced techniques.
A Facelift That Repositions, Not Just Tightens
The technique drawing that academic interest departs from how most facelifts were performed for decades. Traditional methods separate skin from the muscle layer beneath it, then pull the skin back to smooth wrinkles, an approach that can leave a stretched or windswept look. Dr. Jacono’s method releases the ligaments anchoring facial tissue, then repositions skin, muscle and fat together as a unit. Volume returns to the midface and jawline instead of just the skin surface.
Jacono says the result is a “deep structural repair of the face,” one that’s “ponytail-friendly.” Incisions run roughly a third the length of a standard facelift, tucked behind the ear or along the hairline.
He performs approximately 250 deep-plane facelifts annually at his Park Avenue practice in Manhattan. An extended deep-plane facelift can last 12 to 15 years, though key factors that affect the longevity of the extended deep-plane facelift include technique, lifestyle, skin quality, and care.
Recognition Extends Beyond the Operating Room
Academic invitations sit alongside professional standing that has followed Dr. Jacono for years. He holds dual board certification in facial plastic and reconstructive surgery and in otolaryngology-head and neck surgery, and he has been a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons since 2004, a distinction tied to the college’s standards for surgical training and patient care.
