The goal of facial rejuvenation whether surgical or nonsurgical is to help you look younger, and it’s very effective at that. But, according to a recent study the effects can go far beyond that. People looking at before and after pictures of women undergoing plastic surgery rated the after pictures as more attractive, more likable, and possessed of better social skills.

Reading the Personality on the Face

For this study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association’s (JAMA) Facial Plastic Surgery imprint, pre- and post-operative pictures of 30 white female patients were used. Women had undergone a variety of facial plastic surgery procedures, including facelift, eyelid surgery, brow lift, neck lift, and chin implants. These 60 pictures were divided into 6 groups of pictures, with 5 preoperative and 5 postoperative pictures (but no group included both a pre-op and post-op picture of the same person). At least 24 raters looked at each group and rated each photo for 8 traits: aggressiveness, extroversion, likeability, trustworthiness, risk taking, social skills, attractiveness, and femininity.

The traits that showed significant improvement (from most improvement to least) were:

  • Femininity
  • Social Skills
  • Likeability
  • Attractiveness

The study authors note that many people make judgments about our personality on the basis of our facial features and that plastic surgery changes those judgments. They also claim that their study is the first to show these wider impacts of facial surgery on personality judgments.

What about Nonsurgical Facelift?

Theirs may be the first study to look at the impact of facial surgery on personality traits, but cosmetic dentistry research has investigated this effect for years. A 2006 study by the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry found that correcting minor problems with your smile would make you look not only more attractive, but also more:

  • Intelligent
  • Happy
  • Successful in their career
  • Friendly
  • Interesting
  • Kind
  • Wealthy
  • Popular with the opposite sex
  • Sensitive to other people

All of which were statistically significant, though attractiveness, popularity with the opposite sex, and wealth showed the biggest changes.

In addition, we can say you will probably experience a similar effect to what was found in the JAMA study because many of the procedures they’re looking at give similar results to a nonsurgical facelift: facelift, neck lift, and chin implant, for example.

If you would like to learn more about the potential benefits of a nonsurgical facelift in the Hilton Head area, please call (843) 706-2999] for an appointment with a cosmetic dentist at Beyond Exceptional Dentistry.