Princeton facial plastic surgeon discusses how prior non-surgical treatments and long-term skin care can influence facelift surgery and its results.
PRINCETON, NJ / ACCESS Newswire / September 24, 2026 / Patients considering a facelift often arrive at their first consultation with years of non-surgical treatments behind them. Energy-based skin tightening, injectables, and at-home regimens are all part of a typical history. According to Dr. Nicole Schrader, a double board-certified facial plastic surgeon at Schrader Plastic Surgery in Princeton, New Jersey, that history is one of the most useful pieces of information a surgeon can have before planning facelift surgery.
In a series of short videos on the practice's social channels, Dr. Schrader has discussed two sides of the same question: how earlier treatments can complicate surgery, and how earlier care can improve it.
How Prior Energy-Based Treatments Can Affect Surgery
Dr. Schrader has observed that some non-surgical tightening treatments leave changes in the tissue that only become apparent once surgery begins. Ultherapy is one example. Many of the patients she sees for facelifts have had treatments like it, and in her experience those treatments have done some harm. "When I look internally, I see that it has caused a lot of scar tissue, and it is very difficult to perform a procedure afterwards," she said.
She has described the effect as a kind of adhesion between tissue layers. In a facelift, and particularly in a deep plane facelift, the surgeon separates and repositions layers of the face that normally glide over one another. When those layers are stuck together, that separation takes longer and carries more risk.
"When somebody tells me multiple Ultherapies, it's that glue," she said. "I sit there another two hours just to dissect. I have more bleeding, and potentially I have more risk of nerve weakness afterwards, because I have to dissect deeper or it's more difficult."
When the Body Reacts to Prior Treatment
Dr. Schrader has also noted that some device-based treatments can produce what she describes as a hyperinflammatory response, in which the patient's own tissue reacts and becomes firmly adhered to surrounding structures. The result is a surgical field that behaves differently than expected. In her experience, surgery is still possible in these cases, but it demands more time and more care.
For patients, the practical takeaway is simple: every prior treatment to the face and neck is relevant, whether or not it seemed significant at the time. Sharing a complete history allows the surgeon to plan for what may be found beneath the skin rather than discovering it during the procedure.
Why Earlier Skin Care Makes a Difference Later
The second half of Dr. Schrader's message is about what patients can do in their favor. She has been direct about the fact that a facelift repositions structure but does not change the quality of the skin itself.
"I wish some of my older patients had some preventative treatments," she said. "I can do a beautiful facelift, but when the facial skin is so aged that it lost the collagen, the elasticity, there are a lot of fine lines, pores, pigmentation. The skin elasticity aged ahead of the rest of the structures."
Sun protection is the example she gave. Many patients say they use sunscreen every day, but when asked when they started, the answer is often only a few years ago, not in their twenties or thirties. "Not the last five years, the last thirty years," she said. "They always forget what happened between 20 and 30." In her view, skin that has been protected and maintained over decades gives a facelift a much better foundation to work with.
What Three Months Can and Cannot Fix
Dr. Schrader has also been clear about what a short pre-surgical window can and cannot do. "If a patient says, 'I want to have a facelift in three months,' I cannot repair in three months what has not been taken care of for 20 years," she said.
Even so, she wants patients to begin before surgery rather than after. A routine that is already in place going into the procedure is one that patients are more likely to keep up once they are healing and maintaining their results. "It's easier for them to start before surgery. I have my regimen, I have my surgery, and then I continue with the same regimen."
A More Complete Consultation
Taken together, these points reshape what a facelift consultation covers. Beyond examining skin laxity, volume, and facial structure, a thorough evaluation includes a review of every treatment a patient has had, the timeline of those treatments, and the patient's long-term skin care habits. That information affects surgical planning, the expected duration of the procedure, and the discussion of risks.
It also informs conversations about outcomes. Dr. Schrader has addressed the common worry that a facelift will look pulled or unnatural. "You can make a facelift look very natural," she said. "It's the technique, and it's the combination of additional procedures that makes a facelift look very natural. It's just a better version of yourself. How did you look 10 or 15 years ago? That's our goal."
Understanding what has already been done to the face, and what condition the skin is in, is part of how that goal is reached.
About Dr. Nicole Schrader
Dr. Nicole Schrader is a double board-certified facial plastic surgeon certified by the American Board of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and the American Board of Otolaryngology. She completed her residency in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Temple University and a fellowship in Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Robert Wood Johnson in New Jersey. Her practice, Schrader Plastic Surgery, is located in Princeton and focuses exclusively on facial rejuvenation, including facelift, deep plane facelift, eyelid surgery, and non-surgical treatments. Additional patient education content is available on the practice's Instagram.
Contact Information
To learn more about facelift surgery or to schedule a consultation, contact the practice.
Media Contact:
Schrader Plastic Surgery
Phone: (609) 279-0009
Website: https://www.schraderplasticsurgery.com
SOURCE: Schrader Plastic Surgery
View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire:
https://www.accessnewswire.com/newsroom/en/healthcare-and-pharmaceutical/dr.-nicole-schrader-explains-why-treatment-history-matters-before-a-f-1226324
